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OCCULTISM, SPIRITISM, MATERIALISM. 



DEMONSTRATED BY 



THE LOGIC OF FACTS: 



DISEMBODIED MAN AND SPIRIT PHASES. ALSO, THE 

IMMEDIATE CONDITION AFFECTING MAN 

AFTER DEATH. 

THINGS OF THE MOST INTEREST FOR MAN TO KNOW. 

/ 

By ALMIRA KIBD. 



1* 



w,« 



Now, learn of thy responsibilities 



For death is but a change that frees the 
From matter gross, and from all earthly things, 
To know its vast accountabilities. 



BOSTON : 
COLBY & RICH, PUBLISHERS, 

9 Montgomery Place. 
1879. 






<<&\ 
**** 



Copyright, 

1879, 

By Almira Kh>d. 



COLBY ft RICH, 

BLECTROTYPERS AND STEREOTYPES*, 
BOSTON, MASS. 



INDEX. 



Page 
Preface, 5 

SECTION I. 
The Three Factors, .9 

SECTION II. 

Names Misapplied, ■ . .15 

SECTION III. 

PSYCHOMETRY, 18 

SECTION IV. 
Shadows of Modern Spiritualism, .... 20 

SECTION V. 
Psychology, 33 

SECTION VI. 
Spirit: What is it? and its Ultimate, .... 43 

SECTION VII. 
Occult Forces in Spirit Spheres Illustrated, . . 49 

3 



4 INDEX. 

SECTION VIII. 
Spirits Externalizing, . . . . . . .60 

SECTION IX. 
The Immediate Action after Death, showing Spirit 

Conditions, . . , 81 

SECTION X. 
Man's Accountability for Transgression. The Law 

of Retributive Justice, ...... 105 

SECTION XL 
The Continued Showing of Retributive Justice. The 

Assembled Court ; Judgment and Sentence, . . 123 

SECTION XII. 
Classification of Grades and Condition of Souls in 

Spirit Spheres, 146 

SECTION XIII. 
Facts versus Theories, and the True Ethics for 

Guidance, 154 



PREFACE 



In ' ' The Laws of Being " it was stated that the subject 
of Psychology would be continued, and the laws of the 
Occult forces controlling the soul of man, as manifested 
in the life beyond the grave, illustrated. In these pages, 
that promise is intended to be fulfilled, and an effort 
made to show the conditions of the spirit spheres from the 
earth side of observation. 

The previous volume and the present are each complete 
in itself, } r et a thread of understanding connects them. 
" The Laws of Being " relates more especially to man's 
sphere and being on earth ; these pages, to his sphere 
and being in spirit, or the continued life after death. 

In a work of this character it is essential that a 
knowledge of facts, and the source from which they are 
obtained, should be within reach of the author, and it is 
therefore here stated that this work is given as the 
experiences and knowledge of the writer, obtained b}' 
association with spirit-life, or disembodied mind. 

In the preceding work on Psycholog3 T , the teachings 
were clairaudientty received as lessons, and as received 
transcribed. By some persons it may be said that this 
clairaudience may not furnish statements anj T more 
reliable than other statements from living or dead. 
This objection will not apply to this book. There is 

5 



6 PREFACE. 

nothing herein contained dictated especially for these 
pages ; every line is the result of experiences, manifesta- 
tions to, and observations made by the writer. Deduc- 
tions from this logic of facts the readers must draw and 
apply to their individual benefit. Three essentials I 
maintain as the substantial features of this volume. 

First. There is no drawing from the imagination. 
For myself, I have a special dislike to tales of fiction. Life 
with all its realities has always been too momentous to 
leave room for fictitious representations ; and through 
spiritualistic manifestations I have had such a realization 
of its esoteric conditions, that no higher drama could be 
pictured than its substantial facts. 

It is the heart of truth we all want to know, the 
psychology of man's nature on earth and in spirit ; and 
all tendency to exaggerate the nature and marvels of 
these laws should be strictly avoided. The spiritual side 
of man's being is the subject of these pages. Know- 
ing of its deep importance, it is with deep, reverential 
feelings that I enter upon the task of giving this knowl- 
edge of supermundane life to my readers. 

Second. Its purpose is to give and show things in 
substantial matter of fact without unnecessar3 T elabora- 
tion, considering that such is more easily digested by 
general readers, and such I aim to suit. Brevity being 
the gem of understanding, I adopt it in what I have 
to say. 

Third. It promulgates no theory. I hold as great an 
antipathy to theory as to fiction. Humanity has been 
doctored to death with theory ; from all times, b} T every 
imaginary, constructive mind, theory has been evolved. 
The new dispensation is one of facts, and has eclipsed 
theory by demonstration, which is the logic of facts to 
inquiring minds. For these reasons, all the examples in 



PREFACE. 7 

these pages are given to show things as they are without 
a veil ; perhaps, draw the veil aside and show what has 
hitherto been concealed. This, to many, may be objec- 
tionable, and the query will arise, What good comes from 
showing the dark shades ? But these only relieve and 
subdue the glare that is usually thrown around spirit- 
things. 

There is no other motive involved than the pure and 
ardent love of conveying to humanity the facts of spirit- 
things, and that others may be enabled to see the same 
as I have seen them. It is intended to give to others a 
key by which they can open the door themselves. It is 
because of its importance to all, that I would throw a 
penetrative light into its secret chambers, and reveal 
what has hitherto been concealed. 

It is a very common aphorism of the incredulous to 
say, "No one has been and returned from bej^ond the 
grave to report what lies there." The writer has not 
exactly been in the grave, nor in the land over beyond 
and returned ; but spirit conditions and intercourse have 
been so familiar and so clearly shown me, I have lived 
not only upon the earth, but in the land beyond ; 
the pages of this book will therefore show both sides. 
1 have not been a public medium, but a medium in the 
spirit spheres, on the spirit side of life, to revive and 
externalize enthralled souls, a channel for bringing lower 
to higher conditions ; giving light to darkness, and con- 
veying from the most exalted spheres illumination to 
those who needed light. 

Some may consider it unfair that those long since 
passed away from earth should be brought up to be 
gazed at as examples of earth's conditions and their 
bearings on the future state, or life after death. These, 
however, are only given as truthful examples, showing 



8 PREFACE. 

what these earthly conditions have to do with the next 
sphere of action. For this reason, they are taken from 
my own genealogical connections of whom I know the 
history on earth in part, while the sequel and results are 
shown from the other side. Therefore there can be no 
misrepresentation in this, as the facts are of my own 
knowledge. 

I have endeavored to observe simplicity and straight- 
forwardness in the narration of these things, and to 
avoid all vagueness and hypothesis, for I feel that 
spiritualism is often nearly swamped in a morass of 
transcendental inconsistencies. It has rushed up like a 
balloon in the air, to be gazed at, tossed hither and 
thither by the contending clouds, without anchor or 
balast to stead} 7 it ; therefore, a current must set in that 
will regulate its course, that all may know its easy and 
rational movements. 

I do not know that efforts in that direction will be 
appreciated, but, feeling confident that the progressive 
age of reason must come in occult as in other things, I 
deem it of importance that I impart what knowledge 
I possess to the rising structure of spiritual facts. I 
therefore dedicate these pages to the enlightenment of 
humanit} 7 , as to the connection of life on earth with the 
state of being in the world beyond. 



THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 



Section I. 
THE THREE FACTORS. 

Occultism. The science of hidden things, and 
the soul's forces. 

Spiritism. The science of spirit in all its phases. 

Materialism. A treatise on things of matter. 

This triad, blended in infinite law, and factor to 
one result, forms the subject of these pages. 

Materialism could not wholly be treated separate- 
ly, as spirit and matter are a duality, acting through- 
out the universe. But some little review of these 
isms as elucidated by the theorists of to-day, may 
require some notice for a better understanding of 
them. 

Occultism is a branch of science little if at all 
treated upon, or given the attention its vast impor- 
tance demands. It is intricate, profound, diversified, 
and applies to things in external as well as in spirit 
life. Yet, spiritualists do not appreciate nor con- 

9 



10 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

ceive of its true application, and many think it 
related to necromancy. As it is the science of soul- 
forces, and as soul belongs to life in the external as 
also the hereafter, it must express itself in both 
spheres. As soul has existed eternally, it must have 
exercised its occult forces during all time. Hence, 
it is no new-coined idea of some individual's concep- 
tion. To study and investigate this force is occult- 
ism. Races and individuals have done this to some 
extent, far in the remote past, before writing or 
commercial intercourse was known ; and perhaps the 
ignorant tribes of ancient times knew its manifesta- 
tions as well as the scientists of to-day. The very 
fact that every soul is an entit}^, a god within itself, 
a law to itself, must clinch the idea of the enormous 
range of occultism. Therefore, no perfect law or 
rule can be applied to govern the whole ; only a 
summary of facts, examples, and manifestations can 
be given as a guide to the intricacies relating to soul, 
matter, and spirit. 

Spiritism implies the science of all things of spirit, 
which is what we claim for all the phenomena under 
consideration, called " Spiritualism." It is the only 
true comprehensive term that can be applied, to 
cover the whole range of the subject. 

Spiritualism applies to a condition of mind, and 
refers to spiritual-minded people, or superior things. 
But all spiritualists are not so minded, or superior in 
that direction. The term Spiritualism was originally 
designed to designate a doctrine in opposition to 
Materialism, and claimed that all which exists is 
spirit or soul, and embraced the religious ideas of all. 



THE THREE FACTORS. 11 

superior things. Now, it is the term commonly 
applied to all spirit phenomena, to a religious faith, 
and to the teachings of a special class of people. 
Hence, it means only superior things, and is not 
applicable to a general science of spirit. 

Spiritism, or the science of spirit, implies all its 
phases, and one may be a spiritist without being 
spiritual. As the latter has so much more extended 
meaning, I prefer it as more comprehensive. What 
is spiritualism, as understood at this age ? Only 
the recognized possibility of a communion of the 
living with the supposed dead. It has no other, no 
higher definition. It comprises all kinds, shades, 
and degrees of mentality, and all who have intellect 
to promulgate a theory are its teachers. As they are 
strong, or popular, they are credited as authority, — 
and as others become imbued with their special ideas 
they become disciples. Just in this ratio there is a 
diversity of opinions. If there is anything it has a 
superabundance of, it is transcendentalism. The 
Alpha and Omega is attained. Spirits tell us thus 
and so ; there is nothing more to know ; let us button 
up our cloaks that no vapor may disturb our placidity 
of spiritual ideas. Such is the line of action. All 
is subjective to spirit ; naught else can be entertained. 
They do not have the first conception of the princi- 
ple of soul; but it is cast out from its intelligent 
action in humanity to hold a higher place in the 
transformation of matter, and the soul of things is 
all-powerful. Thus, matter has soul ; but man is 
spirit: his soul is of secondary interest. Such is 
the chain of reasoning its promulgators offer. Yet, 



12 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

if some one were to tell them they had not learned 
the first law and source of intelligent being, or 
of immortality ; that a mistake is made in a trans- 
position of terms ; that everything has spirit and 
will lose itself in some other form ; that soul alone 
is the intelligent and the immortal principle and 
part, the cause of spirit manifestations, — they would 
overwhelm with derision one so unfortunate as thus 
to disturb their established ideas. 

But the errors in theory enunciated from the 
spiritualistic standpoint are so numerous, I cannot 
undertake to notice them in detail here. Let the 
reader judge of them by the examples given in these 
pages, for facts and not theory are presented. It is 
sufficient to say, that the only true definition of 
spiritualism is an intercourse with the invisible 
world, or with departed beings. 

As to materialism — a theory, or principle, is best 
known by its action. If matter rules with spirit, 
then it has a place to fill and should be recognized. 
The materialist is not so far astray in his theory as 
the more subjective spiritualists assert. 

Materialism goes to the extreme of rejecting the 
superior power of mind or soul, and the ability of 
intellect to express itself when free from the material. 
In this only do they differ from those that enunciate 
the theory of soul. The materialists argue that the 
elements in matter are transformed from one form 
or thing to another ; that, as disintegration goes on, 
the fineness of particles assimilates with some other 
attractive matter, and thus matter is transformed 
and re-transformed, and its aggregate in the human 



THE THREE FACTORS- 13 

form constitutes all there is; while mentality is 
inheritance of kind and education. 

I once stood beside the dying-bed of a disciple of 
atheism and materialism. Knowing his ideas, I 
sought to lead his mind to some conception of a 
life after death. He was conscious, knew his dying 
' state, and was willingly passing away, sometimes 
talking of it. So I asked him, " What do you think 
will be your condition after death?" He replied, 
"Like that of any other dog. Some of my matter 
will feed other forms, the rest will be annihilated.'' ' 
These were his last utterances ; three hours later 
he ceased to breathe. This expression was pure 
materialism ; it conveyed the sum-total of all there 
is of it. 

Herbert Spencer has given to the world the most, 
or the nearest correct treatise on the laws of matter. 
In his effort to elucidate the law of evolution, he 
has placed the needle to the compass by which 
to be guided in the course of his investigation : — 
Evolution is the law of the universe, through the 
whole of which a union runs. Matter is transformed 
and re-transformed continually on the same plane, 
and from one plane to some other. Germs take 
form in matter when there are conditions to bring 
them out. Thus, types are as immutable as matter ; 
and what has been on this earth has had similarity 
in worlds before this, and will be the same in planets 
now existing or to be formed. 

I do not know that Spencer or any of his school 
have shown what principle gives instinct, mentality, 
and other phases of intelligence distinguishing 



14 



THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 



organic from inorganic matter. They never reach 
that branch of science, " psychology," to show what 
it is that impels the smallest bird to give its beauteous 
notes ; the dog his scent ; the horse his neigh ; or 
man to give expression in so many ways in all the 
mental phenomena he displays. When materialists 
bridge this chasm with some proof of what or 
whence these various expressions are derived, — 
when soul is held to fill its proper place as the divine 
principle of expression, — then will the materialist 
lay the foundation of a structure that time cannot 
disturb. 



NAMES MISAPPLIED. 15 

Section II. 
NAMES MISAPPLIED. 

Neither in the immediate present nor distant 
past have things been so interpreted as to present 
their exact and faultless meaning. Man is so con- 
stituted that he retains from inheritance and educa- 
tion, and will transmit his peculiar preconceived 
ideas. Hence, inspirations are apt to be disregarded. 
Honest men may give in theory teachings erroneous 
as well as truthful. 

I know not by whom, nor when, the dogma of the 
" Soul of Things " originated ; but it is evidently 
a branch of the theory of Materialism. If it is not, 
the term applies equally well to organic as to inor- 
ganic matter, and the law of evolution is true, — 
which is transformation. It is this transforming of 
the spirit-essence to the external, which is evolution. 
I say, if it is not materialism, and if it applies to 
organic beings, then soul in man is no more fixed 
than in matter, and the individual is not immortal ae 
a soul, but may become the soul of some other form. 
For it is a rule that must work both ways, if true. 
Some pseudo-scientist must have originally made 
this very scientific but unskillful and ignorant an- 
nouncement, or he would not have christened his 
aura from matter in things, as " soul," which is the 
intelligent principle moving in organic beings. Now 



16 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

all the small fry, from one end of the line to the 
other, echo forth the dogma of the " Soul of Things." 

Inconsistency seems to be the rule in science. 
How could a mind that knew the purposes and 
attributes of soul, so indiscriminately apply it to 
every atom of matter ? It has been ignorantly, per- 
haps unintentionally, made to take the place of the 
proper name. 

The query now arises, What is soul ? 

Something you cannot see, only in expression. It 
is the invisible principle of intelligence, acting in 
mentality, disconnected from matter. It is immate- 
rial, the immortal spirit. How, then, is it applicable 
to the impression on stone or plastered wall, or the 
evolution in matter ? The name has been reversed ; 
it should have been, " Spirit in Things," as the spirit 
of things exists in all matter. Spirit is tangible ; 
soul is not. Spirit has form, therefore it is matter ; 
soul has not form. 

I have not time nor space for discussing whether 
a stone, brick, or plastered wall — illustrations often 
used — have any power of soul in the impress made 
on these materials, for I am to show facts, and let an 
intelligent people judge therefrom. It will be said, 
Psychometry reveals thus and so. I have had any 
number of things psychometrized through me by 
spirits. They have told of the spirit of a burning 
tree ; the spirit of a flower ; the spirit of a fire on a 
hill-top, and many other things ; but no soul has 
been alluded to by them as existing in those things. 

When Cenis first came to me, he busied himself in 
psychometrizing everything I touched, and tracing 



NAMES MISAPPLIED. 17 

from them what they had been in contact with. No- 
ticing this disposition, I took two antique trinkets, 
of the history of which I knew nothing before they 
were given to me, and asked him to give me their 
history. One he traced to a nobleman from whom 
it had been stolen, and the loss of which had been 
much regretted by him for the relic of hair it held. 
The other, a handsome ornament in its time, was lost 
in New York. I asked what there was in them of 
soul, or force, to give information ? The reply was, 
" Nothing of soul ; no principle but matter. They 
were leaders to things they had been attached to ; to 
mind they had been associated with." 

It is no uncommon thing for some sensitives to do 
the same ; to trace a lost or absent thing by soine 
object that has been in contact with it. Matter that 
has been in contact with other matter will inform of 
it, if there is a quality in a soul to sense it. It is 
the power in the instinctive soul of organic beings 
that distinguishes them from unintelligent matter ; 
and this is manifested by brute life as well, perhaps 
even in a larger sense than by man. Spirits who 
have made some progress will exercise it through 
mediums. I had a lady-spirit by me once who did 
it exceedingly well. 

A principle or substance that has been in contact 
with another, will be a leader to that other. It is 
the spirit-expression of matter. 

Therefore, to the lovers of truth I say, do not call 
things by wrong names, when it has such vital im- 
port. Find something more expressive of truth for 
evolution in matter than " Soul of Things," 
2 



18 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

Section III. 
PSYCHQMETRY. 

The peculiar sensing or perception of the ele- 
ments, called Psyehometry, is the attribute, to some 
extent, of every soul. It is the occult power in soul 
to perceive or sense the conditions of some other 
element. Yet it is not the exclusive property of 
human nature ; for we see it plainly in animal life, 
as manifested in a power to trace, hunt, and detect 
what cannot be seen. In many ways they show this 
sensing, perhaps more than we are aware of. It is 
the same principle exercised in both man and brute, 
the difference being only in degree. 

Every substance, thing, or person, can feel this 
influence, or emanation, — sense the conditions from 
this vital aura, or magnetism, flowing from it, and 
the epitome of its whole nature can be perceived in 
this way. This is called " Psyehometry," " Spirit- 
reading," or " Spirit-measuring." I fully realize 
what it is like, as I have suffered through life in 
consequence of this sensing of the emanations of 
other people's mental and physical states, and in be- 
ing able to detect their unexpressed sentiments. 
Late developments from spirit-life have shown it to 
be a fineness of instinct that is unmistakable. 

The principle is, that spirit makes its impression 
on those things it comes in contact with, and that 



PSYCHOMETRY. 



19 



that impression may be perceived by some other. 
Anything that has been in contact, handled, or part 
of some one, may convey that aura, or receive the 
impress ; and the same will be perceived by one that 
is acutely sensitive to other elements. It is the 
knowledge of soul reading soul ; the sensing of spirit- 
conditions ; and shows the vast, far-reaching, pene- 
trating power of the divine in man. It can be 
exercised to great advantage by those who heed its 
promptings. But these facts do not imply that the 
thing which holds the impression is a soul, or has a 
aoul. For instance, a knife, comb, hat, stone or plas- 
tered wall, boards, and furniture, have no soul that 
gives expression. These things hold only the aura, 
or they photograph that which they have been asso- 
ciated with. This a sensitive may detect. It is the 
law of spirit-essences in matter, and is, perhaps, the 
universal law of things ; there is no power in man to 
estimate its wide range. But it is not the soul of 
things, because, when that material is destroyed, it 
is lost in floating matter, and can give no token of 
consciousness. It is not the same with the mind, 
which retains all its images independent of form or 
matter. Hence, the only soul-elements manifest in 
material are instinct and mentality. These form the 
soul itself ; and it is these that sense the conditions 
in things. 



20 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 



Section IV. 
SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 

What a vast field this heading opens to view ! 
Spiritism could not be truthfully considered without 
its casting shadows. Spiritualism, as now used, 
covers a diversity of ideas, characters, theories, and 
professions, as varied in their lights and shades as 
humanity itself, — in form or out of form. All who 
have heard what is promulgated from its standpoint 
during the last thirty years must realize this fact. 

Thirty }^ears past, the fact that the invisibles could 
give sounds of intelligence was manifested by the tiny 
raps in America, and came like a revelation from an 
unknown world. Its development was so rapid, its 
converts so numerous, from every shade and class, 
no time was permitted for a clear and impartial 
consideration of the doctrines so many found it 
convenient to adopt and advocate. 

Its advent was like the opening of the mountain 
flood-gates, and the torrent that followed took 
everything in its course that was free enough to 
float on its capacious surface. Thus, the debris, 
drift, and scum, as well as the intellect of all who 
wished to launch upon it in their little boats, were 
borne along upon its waters, and they soon became 
turbid. 

All are welcome, aye, doubly welcome, to its 



SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 21 

bosom of universal embrace and motherhood. But 
it is of the idiosyncrasies of its disciples we speak, 
and it is those which give the shadows, and have 
made its waters impure. 

Those who took passage on the flood-tide were of 
all callings and professions, — materialists, atheists, 
scientists, Christian divines, and teachers of all 
schools with abilities and habits as teachers. These 
retained a large proportion of their old ideas, and 
ingrafted them on their new faith; hence the conflict 
of individual theories came to be as diverse as the 
old sects of other faiths. Divisions exist on the 
most fundamental principles in the following order, 
namely: The genesis of man. The Divine emanations. 
Soul entering the matrice at conception. The soul 
of things. Theories of right. Theories of spirit- 
force. The assuming that spirit can convey infalli- 
ble information. That the immediate dead move 
rapidly to a higher state, or are conscious of things 
of earth as though living thereon. The evasion of 
man's accountability for acts on earth, done under the 
temptations of spirits, or the weakness of flesh, and 
for which he is not responsible hereafter. This last 
is one of the most pernicious doctrines promulgated, 
and one which this work is principally intended to 
annul by showing the accountability of the doer for 
his transgressions, and the bearing they have on the 
next stage of being. 

Honestly, it may be queried, do these theories or 
doctrines come from reliable inspirational sources, 
or are they truthful in fact ; and this is what the 
truth-seeker would wish to know. The facts are, it 



22 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

is the fallibility of individual teachers; the lean- 
ings, biases, and inherited education which adhere 
to minds, cast their shadows, and dilute the expres- 
sion of the best control in the transmission of 
ideas in the reproduction of thoughts. Whether 
conscious or unconscious, writing or trance, the 
transmission is more or less influenced by, and 
diluted from, the mentality of the channel through 
which it comes. If the mentality is developed 
sufficiently to hold independent thought, it can be 
likened to the pure waters of the mountain spring, 
clear as crystal, pure as the snow-flake in the air, but 
as it flows through the channels that are trampled 
over, and filled with extraneous matter, it becomes 
murky, impure, and vitiated. The pure utterance 
of supernals, in like manner, are perverted by the 
conditions of the minds of those through whom they 
are uttered, and these conditions misdirect the chain 
of thought. Thus you cannot throw a cannon-ball 
from a musket ; neither can an idea go through a 
mind that has not the calibre to carry it ; minds that 
have not grown or progressed to a receptive idea, 
will not take it in. This is no more true of the 
living than of the dead, and very many of the con- 
trols are of just such small calibre. 

Thus it is, spiritualism is flooded with every phase 
of enunciation from mundane and supermundane 
intelligences. There is no absolute purity of expres- 
sion except in the independent voice. When you 
hear clairaudiently from space, or from a spirit in 
close rapport, an audible voice, there is no mingling 
of ideas by the passing of the expression through 



SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 23 

other mentalities. Whether the ideas be high or 
low, they are not in borrowed clothing. 

I am aware it can be said many speakers show a 
talent surpassing their normal state. This is very 
true; but there is a latent principle within them 
that adapts them for this phase of control, and very 
often it only requires training or development to 
bring it out. But this does not alter the fact of the 
biases of that medium's mind coloring what is 
enunciated. 

These truths can best be understood by examples 
that will at the same time illustrate what has been 
said of the shadows in spiritualism. 

First. Some years ago I heard a lady, one who 
is now on the other side of life, give a discourse 
against Re-incarnation ; treating the subject with 
ridicule and sarcasm ; telling her listeners that if 
they gorged themselves with a mutton dinner they 
might imagine themselves to be sheep. Then, pict- 
uring the loss of entity in one who was now Mrs. 
Brown, and would become Mrs. Blue in one thousand 
years from now, &c, she proceeded at length in 
about the same manner. Thus, a talented woman, 
claiming high psychometrical powers, could not see 
the absurdity of her position. When a great many 
women became Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Blue, and Mrs. 
Gray, in one decade, it would consequently be but a 
small change in a thousand years from now to be 
Mrs. Somebody-else. Neither could she tell, with 
her psychometrical powers, the origin and law of 
mentality, the expression of thought, and distinguish 
these from her generalizations on matter. In this 



24 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

way her talent, from her standpoint, could mislead 
her hearers. 

Second. A gifted woman once lectured against 
Occultism, and throughout entertained her listeners 
with the statement that it was a new ism to distract 
spiritualism, originated and engineered from the 
brain of one man, and not pertinent to spiritual 
things. Could there be any superior intelligence so 
ignorant as to be responsible for such a discourse ? 
For, certainly, all who know of soul-force must be 
aware that its action is occult : and if the expression 
is occult, there must have been occultism as long as 
soul and intelligence have existed; and that is with- 
out time — all time. Further, occultism has been 
known, or recognized, as a science for ages by differ- 
ent classes of people, and does not belong to the white 
race especially. If it is not pertinent to spiritualistic 
teachings, then spiritualism must be without soul, 
and only materialistic. But the opposite of this is 
true. Soul is the fount from which flows all mani- 
festation. 

From whence, then, such fallacious discourse, 
such obscure teachings? 

It can only be answered, by the rule of ignorance 
or bias in the speaker or control. 

Third. It is but recently that I heard a talented 
woman give a discourse on the subject, " Spirit : 
past, present, and future." After describing matter 
and its transformation from elements to things, again 
and again, by the law of evolution, she said : " This 
law of evolution is the soul of things, the only 
representative of that illusion and delusion known 



SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 25 

as re-incarnation. This pre-existent state or states, 
these transformations and re-transformations, existing 
even in the platform on which I stand, explain all 
that the re-incarnationists labor so assiduously to 
theorize upon." 

Thus, a gifted, dramatic speaker, one who pro- 
claims herself the oracle of authority to teach, 
preach, and promulgate the ethics of spiritualism, 
could put forth such a fallacy, namely : Soul is the 
spirit of matter transformed by evolution from one 
condition to another in material, and this is re- 
incarnation ; but when it applies to humanity, it is 
all an "illusion and delusion." 

Her mind could not take in the grandeur of real 
soul, and she gave soul to the inexpressive, unintelli- 
gent matter of the platform she stood upon. At the 
same time she took occasion to show her prejudice 
and bias by an attempt to cast odium on a principle of 
which she was not informed, and which she disliked. 

In the whole discourse on " Spirit : past, present, 
and future," she never once touched on the deriva- 
tion of the intelligent principle that actuates spirit 
and distinguishes it from unintelligent matter ; thus 
leaving her listeners to conjecture that man is spirit 
without soul, or that the matter in him is his soul. 
The query would be, What becomes of it when 
that form has all decomposed and passed into gases ? 
Then take it reversely: suppose that form is pre- 
served, embalmed like a mummy, — the soul would 
be forever preserved in its form, while its matter 
remained intact. To follow her in the discourse to 
the final, the " future" of spirit was, "I know I 



26 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

shall live on eternally.' ' A mere blank assertion of 
an individual belief. Such is not proof ; nor does it 
convey any evidence to another that such is his 
destiny. I some years ago heard this speaker say, 
that God was represented in matter corresponding 
to its bulk. One in the audience questioned if an 
elephant, according to its bulk, held more of God, or 
soul, than man ? Her reply was : "It does. The 
bulk constitutes the greatest principle it contains.' ' 

I venture to say no materialist could say more. 

The rationale of this theory is : The soul moves 
through matter into some other thing, form, or sub- 
stance, and thus becomes the soul of a multiplicity 
of things alternately by evolution ; for that is all 
it is, or implies. If all matter contains soul, then 
there is no distinguishing principle that gives 
superiority of mentality, or intelligence to humanity 
over all other matter ; and the human may ulti- 
mately share the same fate as the tree, the flower, 
the worm that crawls, the bulky ocean, or any other 
matter. 

From whence such profound teaching? From those 
who must know ? Nay ! nay ! It is, as before said, 
the mind can only draw in inspiration that suits its 
capacity and calibre, or such as the individual can 
imbibe. One that is educated in a groove of ideas, 
that is, biased, cannot go beyond their depth to 
reason on facts, cannot see the depth of psychological 
law. Yet such presume to be authoritative educa- 
tors on spiritual things. 

Speakers and writers will discourse to others on 
the soul of things until one is made to hold their 



SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 27 

breath in awe ; yet there is not one whom I know 
that will allude to, or discourse on, the source, 
cause, or principle of the intelligence that actuates 
organic forms and distinguishes them from inorganic 
things. 

Spiritualists are at variance on some of the most 
vital points that essentially belong to spirit condi- 
tions, or relate to man's true status, namely : The 
attributes and status of soul ; Re-incarnation ; The 
Genesis of Man. 

Soul is made to hold such a diversity of positions, 
I cannot presume to know them all. 

By some it is wholly obscured by spirit ; and one 
is the other. Thus, it is used, vice versa, to mean 
the same thing. By others, soul is the aura, or 
emanation from the form, living or dead. Thus, 
when the body is dead, the element of its matter 
that the spirit appropriates is the soul. Others 
give it as the ethereal or spirit element of matter, as 
stated and denned by the speaker I have alluded 
to ; while many wholly reject all these theories. 

On Re-incarnation they are wholly divided. While 
the Buddhists, the Brahmins, French, Spanish, Ger- 
mans, and European nations, to a large extent, believe 
it is a truth, the English and Americans mostly reject 
and dislike it. There cannot be two laws on this 
vital point, — one that suits each party. But one 
immutable law must govern. Again, Spiritualists 
are about equally divided on the law of Biolog}^. 
One half will preach that man is descended from a 
divine source, or some Jehovah in the essence of 
spirit, and various plans are given for the rule 



28 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

of action, or descent. While a second half, equally- 
able speakers, will immediately follow on the same 
platform, preach man's descent by the Darwinian 
theory, and illustrate it by all the analogy of struc- 
tural development of forms, from lower to higher, 
tracing mentality or development through these 
forms until it reaches the spirit state. I am not 
sure but these last have the advantage, as they give 
a tangibility to their theory. 

But the point in view is the wide divergence. 
Both cannot be true. Which is right? 

For myself, I have been taught to reject both : That 
man neither descended from any being of transcend- 
ent mentality, or soul-essence as spirit, nor developed 
physically and anatomically from the brute, or lower 
forms. But I believe the immutability of types is 
eternal ; that spirit creative germs from other 
spheres took material form as soon as vegetable and 
animal life had prepared the earth for human exist- 
ence, and man came into being a distinct type ; and 
that his origin has to be sought for in the distant 
aeons of time, before this earth came together. 
Perhaps others hold the same views. There can be 
but one law of truth on the same theme. An 
immutable law governs these things, and this law 
must be known to some intelligence. 

This conflict on so fundamental a point, or on all 
three of these vital essentials of man's being, is 
self-convicting proof that the teachers only teach 
from their individual base of understanding and 
conception of things. I do not say this from any 
spirit of personality. But, while every unusual 



SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 29 

crucial and excruciating test is being applied to 
physical mediums, who can be tested as well by 
using the senses, some test should be applied to 
the intellectual person who may proclaim, from his 
own platform of ideas, gross errors, as coming from 
superior sources. For their theory may be as faulty 
as the theological teachings of the sects they seek 
to throw discredit upon ; and fully as pernicious, 
because they ingraft them on minds that absorb 
from others, when they are not clear thinkers them- 
selves, and likewise depend on others as inspirational 
authority. 

Theodore Parker was very familiar and social 
near me and my circle of spirits, visiting several 
days at a time to witness the manifestations of earth 
and spirit. Sometimes we discussed the merits of 
workers in the cause. I did not hesitate to speak 
very freely my mind in regard to the ideas spiritual- 
ists hold of the future state. So I one day said to 
him : "I am amazed to see the fallacy, ignorance, 
and delusion spiritualists entertain on the subject 
in contrast with the facts we are shown here. I 
think them as much deluded as the Christians are." 
When I cited some things I had reference to, he 
replied : " I have tried truthfully to give the best 
information I was possessed of, but I know there 
are fallacies and conflicts. The tares will grow 
with the wheat ; the chaff is inseparable because 
the winnowers are not skilled as workmen in the 
field. My time is growing less for me to teach ; 
some other one must do it." 

No doubt there are those who preach and teach 



30 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

their own peculiar views from an ambition of being 
leaders or originators of some new idea. Every 
competent, ambitious mind can theorize ; and spirit- 
ualists do their share. What, then, should be the 
guiding star? 

Nothing but demonstrated fact. Facts are worth 
more than theories. Do not adopt the ipse dixit of 
every traveling magnet who has an ax to grind, as 
the rule of faith. 

No faith should encumber the mind of & sincere 
investigator. For when such exists, it becomes a 
wall, obstructing the passage of new light. 

In one or two hundred years from this time, many 
of the accepted tenets of to-day will be set aside, 
and much of the voluminous writing will be looked 
on as verbosity, absurdly unreasonable, and absurdly 
transcendental. Swedenborg is looked upon to-day 
by spiritualists as absurdly technical, verbose, and 
visionary, vague, and incomprehensible. So will 
future ages regard the promulgators of visionary 
things of to-day. 

As spiritualism outgrows its ingrafted inheritance 
from theological teachings and dogmas, it will enter 
more into the relation of spirit as associated with 
external things, and will not be so transcendental as 
it now is. 

Spiritualism shows its lights in an unmistakable 
way, in its demonstrations and manifestations. It 
requires no missionary runners with theories to 
propagate it. Every family and individual may be 
its own investigator in its own limited circle. It is 
open to all souls, high and low. Family circles will 



SHADOWS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. 31 

do more to develop it than all the theorizing of the 
ablest intellects, which, in fact, only befogs and 
bewilders the mind with an education that embar- 
rasses when they enter upon another stage of action ; 
equally as much so as the Christian faith. I can 
best illustrate this by a tangible example. 

Some years ago I was slightly acquainted with a 
woman who was an ardent, earnest, spiritualist, 
"baptized," as she said to me, "in its full faith 
and trust." All her family were the same ; they 
belonged to the earliest investigators and disciples. 
She died about 1872 or '73. A couple of years after, 
I went to call at her old home ; all the family were 
absent from the house. As the view from the porch 
over-looking the bay was sublime in the setting sun- 
glow, it enchanted me, and I took a reclining chair 
to stop and rest, and enjoy the view. Very soon a 
spirit was talking to me, saying, the family was out, 
and it being her home once, she still lingered by it. 
Finding that it was my friend who had recently 
passed on, I changed the thread of conversation to 
the sphere she then occupied. I wanted to know 
how she found things on the other side, to corres- 
pond with her ideas before she passed over. Her 
reply was : " A great disappointment ; nothing like as 
I had pictured to myself. I have made little progress. 
I am restricted by my embarrassing conditions. I 
do not move, go, nor come, as I had expected to. 
This is my principal place of abiding." 

This woman had pictured for herself in the spirit 
world great power to do and move as she felt 
inclined, — to see, hear, and know all things desira- 



32 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

ble, and to occupy some other spirit place of abode ; 
hence, her disappointment. 

From a variety of such experiences, I might call 
others, but I think this sufficient, as these pages will 
show much of life on the other side. Therefore, I 
say, knowingly, that spiritualism is encumbered by a 
class of vague, superficial teachers, promulgating 
tenets of faith that will have to be eradicated by 
coming generations. But, " the tares grow with the 
wheat." 

Its bright lights require no illustration ; they shine 
for all, and they that seek them can judge of their 
effulgence. Then, let it shine without shadows, and 
be its own enunciator. A knowledge of spiritualism 
can be attained by culture, pure aspiration, pure 
scientific investigation made in a spirit of truth, 
seeking to probe its reality ; not in the spirit of 
antagonism, to destroy its poor tools, the mediums, 
or to lay the ghost of a divine truth that will 
manifest itself, notwithstanding all the restrictions 
man can bring to bear upon it. 



PSYCHOLOGY. 33 

Section V. 
PSYCHOLOGY. 

Originally, the definition of Psychology was, 
" A treatise of the human soul ; a doctrine of man's 
spiritual nature." Of recent date, and by so-called 
scientists, it is made to apply to philosophy in some 
of its branches, and is indiscriminately used by oth- 
ers to apply to the laws of Biology, and even to 
inanimate things, or all matter. Scientists now dis- 
cover that Psychology is a subject they have not 
probed to its depth. 

In these pages I use the term " psychology " as 
meaning the investigation of mental phenomena, 
the facts and laws of consciousness, and the con- 
stituent principle of the soul. 

If psychology is the action and a constituent prin- 
ciple of the soul, then it covers mentality and all the 
manifestations of embodied or disembodied minds. 
It relates to the very innermost expression of the 
soul, which is the source of mentality, and should 
be restricted to this legitimate idea of soul and its 
manifestations. 

All beings of instinct have threefold aspects, to 
wit : The innermost power, denominated the soul ; 
the spirit, or central, through which it is seen ; and 
the external, or matter in form. 

The soul expresses itself through matter only by 
3 



34 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

the spirit and mind. Since the soul does not par- 
take of matter, spirit must be the individual contact 
of soul with matter, — its personality which repre- 
sents you. Hence, when we see the expression of 
mentality, or intelligence, it comes from a soul-prin- 
ciple. With this understanding of psychology, it 
must be considered as having a wide field of action. 
It is the dome that covers and surmounts the whole 
temple of Spiritualism. From this dome radiates the 
light that illumines the whole structure. It takes 
in the very essence of spirit-manifestation. It is 
mind acting on mind, from the innermost to the 
outermost, showing itself in a mesmeric power of 
one mind over a more susceptible one ; and its ex- 
tensive exhibition by mesmerizers is now familiar to 
most persons. A strong-willed operator can operate 
upon two or three individuals at the same time, and 
each one caused to do and see differently from an- 
other. The operator causes them to taste, talk, act, 
and see things as he wills, totally at variance with 
truth ; and the most ludicrous performances are en- 
acted. This I have seen done with strong, able- 
minded men. 

By this very same force and action of mesmeric 
will-power, a spirit psychologizes a medium, and pro- 
duces through him all the various mental phenomena 
of trance, talking, seeing, picturing, &c. 

If psychology is the action of mental phenomena, 
and a " constituent principle of soul," it has been 
in action from all time, or during the existence of 
soul. Hence, the primitive ages must have had 
spirit-phenomena corresponding to their condition. 



PSYCHOLOGY. 35 

There is no record giving accounts of those remote 
times, excepting the Hebrew Bible. Since the Chris- 
tian era, from time to time some subject of psycho- 
logical control has given evidence of being a supe- 
rior visionary, or revelator. Thus, commencing with 
the New Testament, or the new era of Christianity, 
John the revelator gave a series of visions extending 
through twenty-two chapters. At times he must 
have been entranced, for he states he " fell down as 
one dead." In these recitals it is stated that an 
angel was often present, moving and showing him 
those things. The record says : " And I, John, saw 
these things, and heard them. And when I had 
heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the 
feet of the angel which showed me these things." 
" Then, saith he unto me, See thou do it not : for I 
am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the proph- 
ets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book : 
worship God." At another time, alluding to the 
presence of an angel, he says : " And I fell at his 
feet to worship him, and he said unto me, See thou 
do it not : I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy breth- 
ren that have the testimony of Jesus." 

Thus the writing explicitly states that an angel 
was with him. And the angel tells what he is : " I 
am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren ; " show- 
ing that he was under the influence of an attendant 
spirit, who was psychologizing him to see all these 
visions. 

Coming down the vista of time, no clear record is 
made by any individual subject until the twelfth cen- 
tury, when the mystic Dante made his record on 



36 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

the age in a series of extended visions, believing 
himself invested with a divine mission ; and in this 
he marks, or is himself, the transition between the 
ancient and the modern form of afflatus. His most 
noticeable work is his "Divina Commedia" in thirty- 
three cantos, in which the state of the soul after 
death is considered, and Hell, Purgatory, and Para- 
dise described. He tells us that the work is to be 
interpreted in a literal, allegorical, moral, and ana- 
logical sense. Hence, we are to consider it as an 
inspirational or a psychological effect. The Roman 
Catholic Church adopted these pictures of Inferno, 
Purgatory, and Paradise literally, and exhibited 
them to its neophytes as veritable representations 
of scenes in those places, illustrating the passage of 
the soul through various stages of purification. Con- 
sequently, Dante has been greatly honored and 
crowned, as one shown special divine favor. 

The next mystic who made a conspicuous record 
was John Milton, who, in the seventeenth century, 
gave his u Paradise Lost," and " Paradise Regained." 
Contemporary with him was John Bunyan, giving 
his " Pilgrim's Progress from this World to that 
which is to come." 

Undoubtedly, these were all works of a superior 
afflatus and allegorical representation, one being of 
the same nature as another. But they are not now 
considered by rational minds as representing things, 
places, or transactions of reality, and may all be 
classed as effects of a psychological mentality. 

Following immediately these last, Emanuel Swe- 
denborg came prominently forth with his library of 



PSYCHOLOGY. 37 

writings on seership, and revelations in all depart- 
ments of the universe. At the age of fifty-seven he 
took up his mission, when, as he says, he was called 
of God to the work of revealing to man a new sys- 
tem of religious truth. For that purpose he was 
" permitted to converse with spirits and angels, 
and to behold the wonders of the spirit- world." To 
that end he devoted his time in the writing of 
books explanatory of his new doctrines, publishing 
twenty-four on this special theme during the last 
twenty-seven years of his life. Besides these, he 
left at his death an immense mass of manuscript, 
from which have been printed thirteen books. Cer- 
tainly he bears the palm, and deserves the crown, 
for being the most voluminous writer on religious 
subjects. 

But the advent of modern spiritualism, seventy- 
six years after his death, modified his accounts of 
spirit-spheres, and cast a doubt on what many others 
had previously said. Now, spirits through public 
speakers will say that his visions were mostly pro- 
duced by psychological control, and had no exist- 
ence in fact. 

Seventy-three years after Swedenborg's death, 
there came into public notice another psychological 
subject, under more peculiar circumstances. A 
youth, A. J. Davis, was being operated upon for 
the exhibition and testing of the newly discovered 
science of Mesmerism, when he gave evidence that 
an invisible mesmerizer could operate as well as a 
visible one, and astonished his listeners with a rev- 
elation of superior things from the unknown world. 



38 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

By being put in the mesmeric state from time to 
time, he, too, gave to the world a revelation of the 
universe. 

Being a good psychological subject, he rapidly 
acquired power in that direction ; so much so, that 
the invisibles used him independently, and he wrote 
voluminously. They gave him very extended views 
of the universe, all its movements throughout being 
detailed in his writings, including elaborate views of 
our " Heavenly Home," stated to be in a distant 
constellation, or in the Milky Way; and all the 
resources and conditions of this " Heavenly Home " 
are glowingly pictured. If he thus knows the real- 
ity of such a location as a fixed " Heavenly Home," 
as it is represented to be, his knowledge must tran- 
scend that of every spirit-intelligence in space who 
has access to earth, for as yet none other has con- 
veyed an inkling of this location. 

I would not encumber these pages with a notice 
of the latest revelation on " Elementaries," but for 
the persistent advocacy and propagation of its the- 
ory by its disciples. Some incognito, in the borrowed 
vestments of a more facile writer, in order more read- 
ily to attract attention, has given the latest novelty in 
this line of psychological revealments, in the books 
"Art -Magic" and "Ghost Land." In these are 
related extended visions of journeys in the land and 
spheres of " Elementary " beings, who are repre- 
sented as neither of earth nor heaven ; never were 
human, and are without souls ; yet possessed of most 
extraordinary power, force, and intelligence to oper- 
ate on poor benighted humanity. They are said to 



PSYCHOLOGY. 39 

mislead and work injury, and yet are invisible to all 
but those of their own sphere. 

This class of creatures, to some extent, become 
souls when they can incarnate themselves in human 
form; this act imparting to them soul and immortal- 
ity. To attain this, they make desperate efforts. The 
land of their abiding is between the spirit-spheres 
and the earth. The spheres are divided into "Plan- 
etary Beings," li Spirits of the Human Soul," " Ele- 
mentaries," and " Demons." With these four classes 
of characters in space we have to deal. With all of 
these this incognito is refreshingly familiar, and 
warns humanity to vigilantly shun all knowledge, 
inquiry, or communion with these evil-workers, the 
" Elementaries ; " for if they gain a foothold, they 
may work our perdition. 

Such is the substance of what this writer sends 
forth as a new light to accompany the previously 
revealed works of John the Revelator, Dante, A. J. 
Davis, and others. Of these books, " Art Magic " 
and %t Ghost Land," I have only to say that they are 
unworthy of consideration, except as fiction con- 
structed out of material to be found in any good- 
sized library. When one is necessitated to work 
behind a mask to conceal his own personality, the 
offspring is a bastard to be relegated to the " Ele- 
mentaries " from which it sprung, and has no place 
with legitimate productions for consideration. To 
foster such illegitimate bantlings, as revealing any- 
thing of spiritism, would be. a travesty in reality. 

That the ages have shown innumerable instances 
of mystics, visionaries, and psychological subjects of 



40 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

all phases, since the Christian era, — I do not allude 
to the antecedent ages, — is too well known to deny. 
But many of these are known only by tradition, hav- 
ing left no authentic records themselves of their affla- 
tus, visions, or spirit-intercourse. 

Of the reliability of the visions which the several 
writers I have mentioned record of themselves, or 
the tenets they set forth, these pages are silent ; they 
are only referred to as examples of psychological 
mentality, and cited as well-authenticated examples. 
Of their works, others can judge for themselves. For 
myself, I know that spirits present pictures that are 
not realities. I know they show things that have 
only connection with the individual imaginings. I 
know that any class, even the most unprogressed, if 
strong in will, may psychologize one on earth, and 
present pictures, scenes, and conditions at variance 
with truth, and carry the subject through Inferno 
or Paradise for hours, at their will, while the things 
shown are only visionary castles in the air. This 
imagery of mind into mind, in all its extended pic- 
turing, is psychological clairvoyance, only intended 
for the seer, and furnishes no clue by which to judge 
of spirit-spheres. 

I have given some of my own experiences on this 
phenomenon in " Laws of Being," page 110, that are 
noticeable examples of this theme, and I do not wish 
to further intrude myself here. Suffice it to say, 
psychological effects can be carried to very great 
lengths, perhaps more than any other manifestation. 
Neither does it belong exclusively to disembodied 
mind; it is exercised by man on his fellow-man for 



PSYCHOLOGY, 41 

good and evil, and may even take the life of another. 
This I am well aware of from facts in my limited 
sphere of knowledge. As psychology relates to all 
mental phenomena, it follows that a mind may not 
always be operated on by some other mind ; but 
there are numerous instances where an independent 
ecstatic state may be experienced. Such is self- 
magnetic control, or statuvolic condition, otherwise 
called superior condition. This state may be held 
outside of any spiritualism proper. 

Undoubtedly, very many voluminous writers and 
speakers hold this phase of mentality, that has little 
to do with true spirit-influence. Many of the so- 
called inspirational speakers are examples of this 
self-magnetism, or statuvolic, superior state. In 
this condition they deal with things previously 
known, or that can be digested by the individual 
mind. From this standpoint their conceptions of 
things are presented as realities of superior things, 
widely at variance with facts. 

Perhaps some of the personages heretofore men- 
tioned might be considered good examples of this 
self-magnetic " superior condition." A. J. Davis 
claims this superior state and independence of for- 
eign influence in seeing or writing. Seers are apt 
to claim an extended power, by which their spirits 
make excursions to distant spheres in space ; when, 
in reality, they do nothing of the kind. There may 
be some interior intuition of distant things ; bat 
while the spirit is connected with the form of earth, 
the spirit will not go beyond the bounds of earthly 
things. This has been so often and forcibly repeated 



42 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

to me, I must assert it, notwithstanding all views to 
the contrary that may be held by others. If the na- 
ture of the connection of spirit and form is consid- 
ered, and the fact that a spirit cannot go beyond its 
sphere until it has made progress to that plane, it 
will be readily comprehended that no spirit con- 
nected with form can do it. We are continually 
informed by those communicating from the spirit- 
life, that they do not go beyond their plane of con- 
ditions, only by stages of progress. Yet they are 
not subject to the encumbering conditions of matter 
that would restrict them. They are also very sensi- 
bly conscious of what holds them in restraint. Not- 
withstanding this, there are those on earth who claim 
to be superior to this law of nature, as well as spirit, 
and that they have the power to roam in all celestial 
spheres. I will not enlarge on this theme, so prolific 
in well-known examples. 



SPIRIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 43 

Section VI. 

SPIRIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 

As understood in the biblical sense, and in many- 
others as well, spirit is the immaterial, intangible, 
immortal part of a human being. Others designate 
it the power of mind distinct from the body. As used 
in a spiritualistic sense, it is intended to denote the 
forms of the departed, actuated by intelligence. In 
fact, it has come to be used to designate every thing 
that shows activity, sentiment, perception, or essential 
qualities. The term in itself is applied indiscrimi- 
nately to that which hath power or energy ; or, the 
quality of any substance which manifests life, 
activity, or the power of strongly affecting other 
bodies, extending from the influence of the Holy 
Ghost down to the intoxicating beverage, alcohol 
in rum. Thus it has, or is given, a wide range in 
application. But, as used, applied, and illustrated 
in these pages, it is intended to refer to some thing 
eminently pure and refined, the ethereal sublimate 
of substances, the essences exhaled from matter, 
taking form in spirit, either with or without soul, as 
well as to beings actuated with soul in mundane or 
supermundane life. Hence it may be applied to all 
things, w'hile the soul-principle is more circumscribed, 
and only belongs to instinct, mentality, and intelli- 
gence. 



44 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

In " The Laws of Being," the law of spirit is 
treated of, and it is shown that every aggregated, 
condensed substance can be resolved or dissolved 
into its ethereal essences, or spirit parts. 

Thus, every thing we see in nature has its spirit 
expression, from the tiny infusoria to the greatest 
aggregated bulk in matter. What constitutes this 
spirit is the fineness of its particles, the emanations 
of its essences. The flower emits its semblance, 
the tree the same, the fruit, and the garment you 
wear. Thus, the external becomes the highly 
attenuated substance diffused through space, carry- 
ing with it the germs of forms and types. As this 
aggregates or condenses, it takes nebular form, and is 
again tangible. In time, another planet comes into 
motion, and all forms of life are developed, and 
thus again become the external things that had a 
similarity in former states. This is the eternal law 
known as " evolution ; " the universal law of change 
from spirit to matter, and, reversely, from matter 
to spirit. 

It is the highly attenuated ethers of substances that 
become spirit and show spirit-form. Thus, the body 
of a person is continually emitting its spirit elements, 
and at death, when the body wholly disintegrates, 
it will hold its form in spirit. Matter has an affinity 
for its like, and what it has been associated with it 
will more readily be attracted to and assimilate 
with. Thus, external matter will imbibe of spirit- 
essences of its kind, and spirit will draw from the 
external. This is very aptly shown at this age in 
the manifestations of materializing spirits. By com* 



BPIBIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 45 

ing in contact with others who readily give off their 
particles, they condense their own elements with 
those they borrow from the medium and individuals 
forming the circle, and thus for a time show tangible 
external forms. The same law operates in spirit : 
they take from any substance the spirit essence they 
wish to utilize. Examples of this are given in the 
" Laws of Being." I have space here but for one other. 

I saw at a distance a spirit that I recognized only 
by the dress she wore, which was of light calico, with 
a diamond spot. I well remembered it. In her hand 
she held a large pyramidal bouquet, the apex formed 
of a peculiar flower I never saw except in the South. 
The flower took my attention. I heard her ask her 
friend, a spirit she showed it to, " What is the 
name of this flower ? " The reply was : " I don't 
know; where did you get it?" She said, in gar- 
dens in such a location. She had gathered her 
bouquet from the blooming plants in the state of 
Louisiana. 

That bodies expand and yield their particles in 
this way I know from my own experience, for I 
have found myself, in sensation, so expanded and 
puffed out, that my ethereal elements in form filled 
a large room. I have given examples of this spirit 
law and matter in the kt Laws of Being." Further, 
I know this practically by duality ; and more will be 
shown of it in Sec. VIII. : " Spirits Externalizing." 
From this showing it must be satisfactorily proved 
that spirits and spirit things are attenuated matter, 
and it only requires clear seeing, or spirit vision, to 
perceive them. 



46 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

Every substance, thing or person, emits its spirit 
character, or aura. A highly sensitive person can 
feel this influence, sense the impression from this 
vital aura, or magnetism flowing from it, and the 
epitome of its whole nature can be perceived in this 
way. This is called " Psychometry ; " by some, 
' Soul of Things." It would be more proper to call 
it Spirit of Things, or Spirit Metering or Measur- 
ing: as soul is the conscious intelligent principle, 
distinguished from matter, or spirit through which it 
acts, and belongs to organic beings only. In this 
sense it is the power of spirit matter to perceive the 
conditions of matter. And this power is not the 
exclusive property of humankind. We see it most 
extensively in animal life, where it manifests itself 
in tracing, hunting, and detecting what cannot be 
seen, and in many other ways perhaps more than we 
are aware of. 

The query will here intrude itself: Does this 
matter of spirit-form eternally endure ; will it not 
become too attenuated in time to hold together ? 

In time, the ethereal particles disorganize, or be- 
come more difficult to hold together, and soul moves 
as pure spirit of intelligence. This has been satis- 
factorily demonstrated in my presence several times. 

It has been clearly proved to me that old Cenis 
has been two thousand years in spirit. I noticed 
he did not stay continually like others in the 
same atmosphere, but came and went often in our 
midst. One time he remained unusually long, more 
than a day. Theodore Parker was also present, and 
when they started to go they passed together, like two 



SPIRIT: WHAT IS IT, AND ITS ULTIMATE? 47 

friends, out of the door. Cenis was suddenly lost. 
Parker said : " Why, Cenis, you have lost yourself." 
44 Yes ; wait for me, Parker, until I pick myself up." 
Parker, in his commiserating, gentle way, said : 
" Cenis, you are too old to make such long exertions 
to work in this way." Cenis replied: " I know it; 
but I like to do it as long as I can. I will be all 
gathered up in a few minutes if you wait for me." 
In a few minutes they went out of the door, as two 
friends. At three several visits. Cenis discussed with 
spirits the power of materializing, and said he would 
not be able to hold his elements sufficiently long to 
do so. 

Another spirit, one who is known by the Chris- 
tian calendar and historical record to have been in 
spirit-life nearly two thousand years, came to our 
circle of spirits. He said he would visit at stated 
times, but should not stay long, as he could not 
hold together his personality more than half an hour 
while near external conditions. 

I made some inquiry on this ultimate of spirit- 
form, or matter. The reply was : " In the aggregate, 
the form in time will become so attenuated and 
ethereal as to be imperceptible, that is, extinguished 
to its own perceptions ; then, souls will become 
spirits of intelligence. Within themselves there 
will exist a knowledge of their being, and there may 
be a desire to again take form in the external, which 
they may do in a more advanced sphere or planet. 
We do not know that there is a fixed state, or abid- 
ing-place, only that we move to a sun." 



48 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

Others of earth profess to be better informed 
of this. 

A great deal is pictured of local heavens and 
spirit abiding-places — and these have been given in 
" Views of our Heavenly Home " — in some distant 
realm or constellation ; but all such are fantasies of 
psychological mesmerism. If there is such a fixed 
abode, it is so far distant that spirits who are in 
rapport with earth have not reached it. 

Spiritualists have no proof of the identity of a 
spirit visiting them who has been much longer 
than two thousand years in spirit-life; now and then 
some person says they have a caller of that age. I 
have had three visit me whom I know to have been 
there that length of time. 

Two thousand years is but a second of time in 
eternity. What has become of the vast, innumera- 
ble congregation of souls that have inhabited this 
earth in the millions of years past ? The thought 
must impress every mind that some law governs this 
soul-movement, that it is not a haphazard force. 
That some such law exists remains to be satisfac- 
torily proved. 



OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 49 



Section VII. 

OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES 
ILLUSTRATED. 

Perhaps, in treating this theme, I shall show an 
unusual acquaintance with the expression of supe- 
rior spheres, that is rarely known by one while a 
denizen of earth. I am aware that spirits, through 
mediums, convey some idea of their habits and 
the phases of their condition. But the inter-com- 
munion, the esoteric, the action of the superior to 
the external, is altogether a transcendental phenom- 
enon, and can hardly be realized except in spirit, or 
in superior clairaudience. 

Spirits -do not find an entity called God ; but, as 
soul enters the spiritual or the superior state, there 
is a knowledge, a perception, of some controlling law 
that is irresistible and insurmountable, that controls 
and restrains them. That there is some power 
that dictates intelligently — is an all-seeing, all-com- 
prehending, all-pervading force operating through 
space, is clearly manifest. That the same is in rap- 
port with lower forms, and all grades of souls, as 
occasion may require, spirits are continually aware, 
for it expresses itself audibly to their consciousness, 
and they know it to be authoritative. This occult 
power and its mode of operating, the succeeding 
pages of this book will, to some extent, endeavor 
4 



50 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

to show. I have heard, times repeatedly, its expres- 
sion to a disembodied soul, as well as to myself, and 
know its great force, volume, and immensity, and 
that it will reveal all things concealed. It is the 
psychophonic voice of the Infinite that speaks to per- 
sons in the instant of warning, in the quick, impul- 
sive inspiration, and may give prophecy through them. 
It has access to those of earth as those in spirit, but 
is not so clear and perceptible when the conditions 
of the external are engrossing, and the soul is en- 
cumbered with matter. 

But I am well convinced that sometimes those in 
trance, for some special purposes, will speak short 
sentences from this highest source of inspiration. 
Of all forces exerted, none are so mysterious and 
unfathomable as this. With all the vast number of 
spirits manifesting to those of earth, they have not 
sounded its depth, nor conveyed an expression of 
this intelligence that is exerted through space. The 
reason is, spirits who manifest through mediums are 
of primary classes. That is, they have only crossed 
the line of vision and action, and return to call on 
their friends, with all the earthly conditions, preju- 
dices, and biases, and even the elements of the ex- 
ternal, influencing them : hence the conditions of the 
superior state cannot be conveyed by them. This 
can only be conceived of and appreciated by those 
on earth who have some high, superior power of see- 
ing and hearing. That such have lived, the writer, 
from experience, does not question. The Bible, from 
Genesis to Revelation, has examples of it. Further, 
it may have been this psychophonic voice of intelli- 



OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 51 

gence that talked with Moses on the mount, and 
which he called " God," and likewise expressed it- 
self to the early Bible patriarchs and prophets ; and, 
following down the ages to the present, the very 
same power has been exercised at times, and recog- 
nized as the individual had power to hear it. 

I know the spiritualists theorize that it is some 
special spirit in person, near to the individual, that 
converses with them, and the old style was to call 
them " Lord," or " God." But this theory will not 
hold good with the examples that are given in these 
pages ; neither will it be sufficient for any one to say 
that he has heard the force of intelligence in space. 
I know it comes from a totally different source. It 
can be no rational conclusion to suppose that a source 
of intelligence that once conversed with humanity 
would draw off, or shut itself up for all succeeding 
time, as the Christian sects persist in teaching. Is 
not God free to all ? Is not one soul as good as 
another soul, according to development, progress, 
virtue, and attainments ? There can be no aristoc- 
racy of distinction, only in its own purely intelligent 
moral worth. The same laws of the universe are in 
operation to-day that existed ten or twenty thousand 
years ago, and a person may hear the voice of the 
Infinite to-day as it was heard then. 

It is also evident to me, from the expression of this 
intelligence, that it is peculiar to it to use allegory 
and metaphor. From this it can be rationally con- 
cluded that the early, primitive accounts given in 
the Bible were given allegorically. Especially did 
the books of the Pentateuch — accredited to Moses — 



52 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

employ this form of expression. It was in accord- 
ance with those peoples' crude understanding to use 
this form, especially as they had just come from 
bondage to a people who did so, — the hieroglyphics 
of Egypt being allegorical illustrations of history. 
Thus Moses, educated in that school, was most likely 
to make his record and accounts of creation in that 
borrowed form of expression. This was well known 
to be the fact in that age ; in consequence of which 
was instituted that class of schools known as Cabala, 
for the interpretation of the hidden sense of scrip- 
tural symbols in Arabic, Egyptian, and Hebrew. 
Up to the time of Christ this form of language must 
have been used ; as he taught in parable, and used 
metaphor on all occasions. It is probable that the 
allegorical form of inscription was common with 
those nations ; but when the Romans made con- 
quest and subjected them, the Latin customs were 
inaugurated, and the new school obliterated the old. 

So the Bible, from beginning to end, is written in 
the old school of allegory, requiring a key to inter- 
pret it. I do not think that this form is peculiar to 
any age or class of communicating intelligence, if it 
comes from old or ancient lights. It is the expres- 
sion of poetry, and simplifies an idea with a picture. 
As this volume is intended to demonstrate these 
forces by the logic of facts, and not by hypothetical 
deductions, I deem the examples that follow to be 
the most satisfactory proofs of the truth of the fore- 
going conclusions. 

In 1868 I made the acquaintance of a young man 
in Sacramento city, said to be an excellent trance- 



OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 53 

medium, but not a public one. As I became better 
acquainted with him, he condescended to frequently 
sit for me alone, until he became almost a special 
medium for remarkable * messages to me. Subse- 
quent developments proved the accuracy of his 
trance-afflatus, and the reliability of his controls. 
I will call him Tom. Through him I had many 
beautiful allegorical communications referring to 
persons and events that had a bearing on the past, 
present, and future. I could not then understand 
the similes used, nor give them an application. 
Eight years later, when I was in another territory, 
and the intelligences were speaking to me psycho- 
phonically, like a clarion in space, these allegorical 
sentences were repeated to me in the presence of those 
to whom they had reference, — persons who had but 
recently entered spirit-life, — saying : " From the 
crystal river the pebbles will be picked. Though deep 
the bottom seems, each pebble must be found." On 
a second occasion another sentence was repeated : 
" That ship lies stranded on the shore. Its wreck 
must be accounted for." Thus was I reminded of 
past communications that could now be interpreted 
and seen as pictures of the reality that was being 
fulfilled, day by day, by the spirit to whom it 
referred. . 

In 1869 I roomed in a house where there was a 
man past middle life, a trance-medium, a worker in 
the spiritual cause, who was often readily entranced. 
On one occasion I entered the room unannounced, 
and found him entranced, and speaking to a man 
and woman seated before him. They motioned me 



54 THE LOG 10 OF FACTS. 

to be seated ; so I took a seat beside him. As he 
finished speaking to them, he turned to me and said: 
" I will address the sister just entered. You are liv- 
ing your second dispensation on earth ; when you 
pass on you will enter the Divine. You are, as Ruth, 
gleaning in the fields. I see you as an angler; the 
line and hook are out, and many fishes are nibbling 
at the bait." This medium was never before known 
to use metaphor, or such forms of expression, either 
in a normal or trance state, and had no leanings to- 
ward re-incarnation. The whole address was an 
enigma and puzzle to me. 

Several years after I presented the first sentence 
as a question to a superior trance-speaker, then in 
San Francisco, as follows : " A spirit said, ' You are 
living your second dispensation in form on earth ; 
the next you will enter the third, the Divine.' What 
is its meaning?" The medium, or the control, im- 
mediately perceiving it had been given by some 
superior power, waited a moment, then said : " I 
must first see what intelligence gave it." Then it 
was answered in one of the most sublime discourses 
it was ever my privilege to hear, showing the theory 
of the Trinity, and its application to man ; that man 
filled several stages of dispensation, and the entering 
the Divine was an absorption into the Godhead of 
universal intelligence. 

These things were given by mediums, who, in the 
normal state, held no conception of these theories, 
or the ideas they expressed ; strangers to each other, 
never having met. Neither was it the impressioD 
of some guide, or familiar spirit. It was the very 



OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 55 

force of occult intelligence that moves in space, 
that the soul attracts, and with whom it is in 
sympathy. 

I hold a yet more remarkable example of this 
allegorical form of illustrating an idea. I received 
from a psychometrical reader, a Mrs. Sherman, a 
letter of " Delineation," of four pages letter-sheet, 
and in it these passages of symbolic writing occur : 
" You stand before me as a stranger always wearing 
a veil. Your past is represented by the symbol of 
a coat of many colors. By this I understand many 
changes. The coat has many patches, meaning 
untoward conditions and circumstances. The seams 
appear to have been sewed and pulled out, until the 
cloth is too much worn to hold the thread. Can you 
interpret ? " 

Thus, a stranger to all the conditions of my life 
could have the whole symbolically given to her in 
the best symbolical picture that could have been 
chosen, — better than she could understand or inter- 
pret ; and she knew it was not a plain, usual reading. 

These examples show an occult-power, intelli- 
gently using symbols to typify a reality. 

I have had forcible proof of this occult-force, as 
well as the psychophonic voice of intelligence 
exercised in space. From very many examples I 
could give, I make room for but one. 

At a time when I was much engaged with spirits 
manifesting, Thomas Paine was near and endeavoring 
to distinguish me as a special medium for his pur- 
pose. While efforts were being made in that direc- 
tion, and he was transmitting his desires to the 



56 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

circle very forcibly, a very powerful, as well as 
authoritative voice in space was heard to say : 

"Cenis, hold the medium steady; a special pur- 
pose is intended. In the light of the celestial is to 
be given what the terrestrial requires. The superior 
is to make itself manifest." This seemed to be 
so authoritative, that its effect was irresistible, as 
well as startling and impressive. Immediately, 
Thomas Paine answered : " Cenis, I forego all 
further effort. The power behind the throne is too 
great to be resisted. Thenceforth, we are listen- 
ers — scholars in a class to witness the ultimate 
results." 

After this no spirit made any special attempt to 
control. 

At this gathering a vast number of phenomena 
took place of special interest to the individual spirits 
present, messages being given, from the superior 
authoritative source, to some one present, either in 
marks of promotion or in reminders of some past 
condition of life. It is essential to know that such 
an operating force of intelligence exists. From 
whence does it come? What is it? 

The only reply I ever obtained was : " It is a 
settled principle of the universe that intelligence 
exists as a combined, universal soul, and this is 
utilized as occasion requires for each individual 
being. As a soul enters more into the superior state 
it is more clearly receptive, and, hence, sensitive to 
these forces. Thus, spirits hear clearly these mes- 
sages, while those on earth sometimes receive them 
as well." 



OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 57 

I am aware it is common to attribute all impres- 
sions to the immediate presence of spirits, but this 
is not invariably so. I have endeavored to show 
that the mind may be reached from superior spheres 
direct, receiving impressions, inspirations, and fore- 
warnings in times of necessity. Very many persons 
can certify to this ; yet it cannot be known from 
whence it comes, neither is it heeded as it should 
be, because it cannot be realized as being authentic. 

That there is a power in these forces transcending 
the ordinary spirit-control, and capable of imparting 
information superior to that which a spirit might 
communicate, must be evident to all. Also, that 
spirits who have but recently departed from us, 
convey their individual ideas only. Educated in the 
biases and prejudices of earth, they reflect and trans- 
mit to us the conditions of the elements they are in, 
even to the very expression. In this way, spiritual- 
ists adopt a variety of ideas that are merely tran- 
scripts of individual minds. 

The visibility of spirit is another phase of occult- 
force, or soul exercising consciousness. It is, perhaps, 
very generally supposed that spirits are visible to 
each other, that they carry form and stature with 
them as we do on earth. Nothing can be more 
erroneous in fact, for they do nothing of the kind ; 
only when they desire to do so, and are visible only 
when tYizy choose to show themselves to others. 

Usually, they are as concealed from each other 
as they are to the external eyes of those of earth. 
There is but one way their presence can be detected, 
and that is, by the finest sense of feeling, sensing that 



58 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

such an element is present. There is no distinction 
in this very noticeable fact ; it applies to high and 
low. A soul may be present and know what is 
intelligently transpiring, and yet not be distinguish- 
able at all, unless some force of its element is thrown 
out, and then its presence will be known only by 
a sensing of that force. I have known so much of 
this in reality, that it appears to me to be the general 
law. When, perhaps, several in spirit-form were 
present, some forcing element would be perceptible 
that could not be seen, but the sensing of it would 
be sharp. Those then engaged in talking would 
say : u Some new or strange arrival is here ; wait, 
and let us see what it is, or what it has come for/' 

In this, psychometry shows its action in spirit- 
spheres the same as on the earth. An acute sensi- 
tive will detect this presence in either sphere. One 
who is very fine will even sense the character of this 
element. I could give examples to any extent of 
these facts, but the continuation of these pages 
will show them. 

This is also the strongest proof of the true 
inwardness of our being, the soul-principle that 
actuates us, that takes cognizance of conditions, and 
may give intelligence without connection with form 
or matter ; and it shows that this perception is on 
earth, and in spirit-life the same. One of the strongest 
examples of this is shown in " The Laws of Being," 
in the section on " Duality," page 92, and is well 
worthy of notice as illustrating this law, showing, as 
it does, the mentality present in one place without 
form, or materiality, and at the same time the acute 



OCCULT FORCES IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 59 

sensing of others and their conditions, without know- 
ing or seeing who is present. 

The self-same law operates in spirit-life; they 
move and exhale their elements without form just 
the same as with. But when they so desire, they 
draw to themselves the spirit-essences of matter, and 
take form ; and may in that way show any condi- 
tion of life they have passed through. 

Thus, when a clairvoyant sees a spirit, that spirit 
has drawn elemental matter to itself by which it can 
be seen. But to sense, or tell the presence of a spirit, 
is practicable to almost every person who will give it 
some attention, and is, in reality, much more expres- 
sive in every one than is supposed. In accordance 
with the exalted state, or the low, disturbed condi- 
tion, will the element be sensed that accompanies 
a spirit, and the high and the low are distinguish- 
able in this way. 

Such are some of the expressions of occult-forces 
as manifested by soul in spirit-spheres. 



60 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

Section VIII. 
SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 

Externalizing is a process that spirits bring to 
bear to enable them to enter the conditions of the 
external, to recall antecedent states, or take up some 
condition they held in their earth-life. It is exercised 
through and under the conditions of some external 
form called a medium. It enables them to come 
more in rapport with other spirits, also to throw off 
conditions and elements of the external world that 
cling to them. It may be a special transaction they 
wish to make known, or a general epitome of events. 
It is often an open confession to some other one 
interested in it. By doing this, they disengage 
themselves from earthly conditions, and advance 
higher in the spiritual scale. 

Any one would consider it the most extraordinary 
of all manifestations were they to witness it to the 
extent that I have. Although the pages that follow 
will show the light it shed on spirit-life, yet the 
reality and force, the expression and feeling, cannot 
be seen nor conveyed in a written description. With 
all the vast amount of the manifestations of spirits, 
but a small conception of the esoteric conditions of 
spirit-life, of their ways or manners, is given, while 
the innermost laws that govern soul are not realized 
at all. Neither can they be, unless by some one 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 61 

who has an inside view. Even then, one must be 
limited to what is shown him ; the whole no one may 
be able to know. Spiritualistic literature is replete 
with the showing of phenomenal manifestations, and 
spirit communion is common in all phases, from the 
tiny rap to the materialized form. Through these 
there is no lack of proof of their action on matter, 
or contact with the external world. But the eso- 
teric is quite another thing ; its reality is not known. 

I propose to give only my own personal knowl- 
edge and observation of the esoteric side, intending, 
more especially, to show the inside manner of its 
operating forces. It is my purpose to reveal to the 
denizens of earth the spirit-sphere they are in close 
alliance with, and the importance it is to them to 
know of its tangibility and its operations. I shall 
not hesitate to show this inside view of spirit-work- 
ing as it is, for it is but a phase of humanity after 
all, and no special grace is to be accorded to one be- 
cause he is a spirit. Nothing but example can 
demonstrate a fact. It has been the external man- 
ifestation that has satisfied millions of the fact of 
spirit-life ; and the same rule must apply to the eso- 
teric ; the proof must be given those that wish to 
know more of the other side of life and its con- 
ditions. 

Minds that enter spirit-life oppressed, encumbered, 
burdened with a weight of the memory of some great 
wrong to others, or to some special one, will not, nor 
can they, progress to any extent while so encum- 
bered. The condition acts as a mill-stone about 
their necks ; it is an anchor that keeps them to the 



62 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

earth — the ghost that haunts them until satisfied. 
And atonement must be made to those they have 
sinned against. In this way many souls are held to 
earth for many years, or so long as those whom they 
have wronged remain on earth. It is a darkened 
state of existence, and shows the divine spirit of 
retributive justice that must and will demand an 
accounting. No concealment can be made of evil- 
doing to another. The absolution can only come by 
atonement and purification. There is a much greater 
number of this class of spirits than those of earth 
suspect ; and when you enter spirit-life you may find 
things revealed to you to make you quake with dis- 
gust at those you now esteem, or even with an 
exposure of yourself. 

Many enter spirit-life encumbered with their pe- 
culiar idiosyncrasies, prejudices, and church bigot- 
ries, with no great virtue or merit attached to them- 
selves, and with no knowledge of superior things. 
These can realize only the conditions of earth they 
hold to. I call these earthly enthralled souls, and 
their manner of manifesting will be in accordance 
with these conditions. This class is in the nearest 
rapport to earth, and the most likely to convey mes- 
sages or control mediums. Thus, a vast number of 
communications come from this sphere, — beneficial 
to the spirits, but often misleading to those of earth. 

Souls may externalize on the spirit side as well, 
through some channel that is not conscious of it. 
Thus, a medium may be used unconsciously to bring 
two different spheres together, and there will be no 
external manifestation made of it to the conscious- 



SPIBITS EXTERNALIZING. 63 

ness of the medium. It is the elements, the con- 
ditions the mediums afford, that enable them to util- 
ize these for their special purpose. Therefore, there 
are very many more persons who afford elemental 
conditions than are suspected of doing so. All this 
will be better understood by examples, the aim of 
these pages being to convey a knowledge of these 
things by a showing of facts. 

Spirits are ever ready to use the opportunity and 
every device to execute their desires, and they are 
not always honest, truthful, and reliable in what 
they convey to the external world. Those who are 
troubled with some weight of conscious wrong, which 
they would prefer to have concealed, will be at first 
inclined to mislead, and pervert the truth. Thus, I 
have a near connection whose soul was troubled with 
the weight of a secret that would have to be divulged 
at some time. The very first opportunity there was 
to speak to me, a rush was made, and an instant 
committal was shown of the burden on the soul — 
showing something concealed. Yet a false, pervert- 
ed statement was given which it took months to un- 
ravel and straighten ; and then it was not done until 
higher spheres intervened, when the iniquity was 
shown in all its enormity. A second secret was at- 
tempted to be evaded by dodging its responsibility ; 
misstatements one after another were made ; but 
when I began to calculate dates and periods of time, 
I disclosed the inconsistency of the statements, and 
it was six months before the whole truth was 
brought out. Thus the consciousness of wrong, 
that will be discovered, may act like a nightmare to 



64 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

them, and show itself in a troubled, untruthful state 
of delirium. 

A man I once knew very well called on me in 
spirit, and the very first words he spoke were : "■ I 
never said anything wrong of you." Six months 
later he called in company with two others, all three 
being intimate associates when on earth, and ac- 
quainted with me. On the occasion of this call, 
one of them repeated what the first one had told 
him when on earth, of things relating to myself of 
a slanderous, defamatory character. Thus, the first 
impulse of the spirit was to give a test of himself, 
showing what was on his mind, and trying to evade 
it by telling an untruth ; denying, without being 
asked, what he had really done, and in that way 
acknowledging his error and furnishing proof. 

A gentleman I had been acquainted with when on 
earth, — a scholarly, scientific man, standing well in 
that class of society, — one night called on me and 
reported the death of a mutual friend. This led to 
considerable inquiry to ascertain the facts. After a 
time, I found it was all false. This annoyed me, 
and I made strong complaint to my spirit friends of 
such falsehoods. Cenis immediately started to dis- 
cover the author, and the spirit was brought before 
me to explain, or externalize and account for his 
statements. This he refused to do ; but soon 
changed his tactics and repeated a mass of state- 
ments in regard to the same person, which proved, 
when inquired into, to be a systematic, spiteful un- 
truth of a person toward whom he held some ani- 
mosity. I related this circumstance to Theodore 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 65 

Parker, to show him how some would convey a false- 
hood, and its results. He replied : " He was no gen- 
tleman to do so." Instantly, the spirit spoken of 
was present, and said : " I consider myself a gentle- 
man in fact when I show ray true character. I was 
false ; and false and deceitful in my nature, and if I 
show it now, I consider I show myself honestly as a 
gentleman." To this Parker said : "Jf that is the 
construction you put on it, you may be right." 

These examples show that a troubled weight of 
memory may exist, and if a spirit is closely bound to 
earthly conditions, an erratic state of mentality ma} r 
exist, and he will give statements wholly at variance 
with truth ; and there is no telling to what extent 
the conditions of the spiritual are thus misrepre- 
sented. These are unhappy, troubled souls, know- 
ing they must purge themselves before advance can 
be made. I have seen some very striking and sad- 
dening examples of this action ; but I cannot be too 
personal in these pages, therefore prefer to use what 
has been more openly seen. 

A noticeable instance of a spirit taking the char- 
acter and giving the name of some other one, was 
shown at a camp-meeting in Massachusetts, in 1877, 
where a medium, J. F. Baxter, was controlled by a 
negro spirit who announced himself as one Abe 
Bunter ; even telling his peculiarity of splitting 
planks with his head for a quarter ; where he lived, 
and time of his death. Immediately it was declared 
by one in the audience that the person of that name 
and character was not dead ; when the spirit reas- 
serted that he was, and that he died in such a year. 
5 



66 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

But it subsequently proved that Abe Bunter was 
alive on earth. Thus it became manifest that the 
spirit announcing himself to be this person had given 
false statements all through. The subsequent ex- 
planation given by a guide was, that a party of 
negro spirits combined for a performance, and gave 
the name and continued to reiterate the same, while 
the guide could not tell whether it was right or 
wrong. The medium was not satisfied with this 
explanation, perhaps not liking to think himself the 
channel of some duping, tricky negroes. But in 
reality this is more practiced than spiritualists and 
mediums are aware of. 

It is not uncommon for this class of spirits to 
practice these deceptions. It only shows the power 
of imitation. When it is taken into consideration 
that the sphere immediately after death is the 
counterpart of earth, and the dead are not meta- 
morphosed by a change of location, it should be 
satisfactory to every mind, that inferior, tricky, 
deceptive manifestations may be given, as well as 
exalted ones. 

There is nothing in spiritualism that requires 
more careful consideration than the idea held in 
regard to guides. It is assumed that guides are 
always superior spirits, that they have superior 
knowledge, or are, perhaps, infallible. Nothing can 
be further from the facts. Guides who are especially 
assigned to work with one individual are usually of 
the inferior class, some spirit who needs the exter- 
nalities of life to aid him in learning of the things 
of earth, and to advance himself in education from 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 67 

the external. It is usually supposed that a guide is 
exclusively for the benefit of the medium ; but the 
purpose is as well to benefit himself. In fact, they 
are usually very ignorant minds, and may be artful 
and unscrupulous. Their purpose is to strengthen 
a medium in his phase of development, to harmon- 
ize the two spheres, and to act as a link between 
them. They are mostly in the sphere of earth them- 
selves, therefore are not transcendent intelligences. 

The Indian is well represented in this phase of' 
American spiritualism, and supports a large majority 
of American mediums. Nothing could be more nat- 
ural than this law, and the justice of its operation, in 
the fact that a race, indigenous to the continent, 
should have the precedence of obtaining knowledge, 
and cultivating taste, through its mediums. Besides, 
they have strong animal and earthly elements. But 
the Indians in this position have their natural inclina- 
tions, and maybe artful, cunning, tricky, and unrelia- 
ble ; and while their aid is acceptable, they are not 
to be considered as high authority. I will give some 
examples of this fact, as a rule by which others may 
be judged. 

At one time, when Cenis was entertaining the 
spirits who were by me, he related the arts and tricks 
of one " Fleet," as a guide. I said I knew of one 
called " Fleeter ; "' when he replied, " It is the same 
one." I told him of a beautiful picture of her, made 
by Anderson ; when Cenis said : " It is not her 
likeness; she is a common, homely, old squaw, and 
I'll introduce her to you some time, that you may 
judge of her yourself." Very shortly Miss " Fleeter," 



68 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

as she styled herself, came among us, or called, came 
and went for several days ; at these times giving 
some account of her manner of operating with her 
medium, and showing her arts generally. 

The name of this Indian woman is given to an 
elegant, majestic portrait, life-size in bust, express- 
ing everything to be desired in beauty ; looking like 
a Roman princess, the crown of plumes alone 
indicating the Indian peculiarity. This picture had 
been given through Anderson, the spirit artist, as the 
likeness of this tricky squaw, and exhibited on many 
occasions in San Francisco as such, when, in fact, it 
was nothing of the kind, only a fancy spirit-picture. 

To suppose for one moment, that, because a person 
has changed his location from earth to spirit-life, 
his whole outlines, features, and personality are meta- 
morphosed into an angelic creation, would be to sup- 
pose that which is contrary to all natural laws. How, 
possibly, can one change his color and personalitj^, 
and yet look like himself? Unfortunately, this is 
believed to a great extent. I know that a person 
retains his personality remarkably accurate in spirit- 
life. I have seen Cenis quite well ; he has been in 
spirit two thousand years, and yet retains all the 
Indian characteristics of those distant times. He is 
of copper color, his hair is drawn up and tied on 
the top of the head, and he is dressed in skins, — 
showing most conclusively that he has not changed 
in looks during the long period he has been in spirit. 
I had a connection who had a disfigurement of the 
face ; he has been in spirit-life thirty -five years, yet 
that disfigurement is seen as plainly to-day by those 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 69 

who see him from the spirit-side, as it was by those 
near him when on earth. I have heard strangers 
remark it and ask its cause. 

I had one vivid illustration of the fact of not 
outgrowing the stature as held when on earth. 

A beautifully arrayed but very small spirit ap- 
peared before me. I took it to be that of a little girl, 
but when her identity was made known, it proved 
to be a lad}^ who took some interest in me when a 
child. While on earth, she was deformed with a 
hump-back, and was very short in stature. The 
spirits present questioned her why she showed her- 
self so small. She told them of her deformitj 7- , and 
said : " I was quite short, so, of course, could not 
raise myself in spirit-stature, while my hump, being 
superficial, I do not now show." 

I am satisfied, from all I have seen and heard, that 
when spirits are beheld naturally, they look the 
same as when in the earth-life. But they may take 
some foreign character. 

As this artistic form of spirit externalizing has 
been referred to, and it is of some interest, some 
further notice of it will exhibit its phases. 

One of Anderson's spirit-portraits was exhibited 
in California as the likeness of Thomas Paine in 
spirit-life. This picture had no feature or resem- 
blance to him as when on earth. In fact, it looked 
like some Chinaman costumed in the style of a fancy 
beau, — lace and ruffles. I hold one of the card 
photographs taken from that portrait, and recently 
asked Thomas Paine how it would compare with his 
resemblance now. He replied : " No likeness had 



70 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

been given of him from spirit-life, therefore it was 
not his." 

I would not have it understood that Anderson is 
the deceiver ; he is only the instrument of some 
spirit artist. I saw him when taking his large band 
of Atlantins, and other ancients of history, and I 
know he draws the outline of a portrait in ten 
minutes. He is controlled mechanically, and does 
not see and draw a portrait of the spirit himself. 
They are beautiful crayon works, and marvels of art, 
under any condition. As these sketches are given by 
control, there is no reason why an artist may not 
give, from the spirit-side, any picture, and represent 
it as the picture of any person he chooses ; hence, 
the spirit control is responsible for naming these 
portraits, unless they are recognizable by other 
persons. 

In regard to this artistic work, I cannot pass 
by a very noticeable instance of its manifestation 
through a lady in Sacramento City, California. A 
Mrs. Waterhouse, when past sixty years of age, 
was first moved to it by shadows and outlines com- 
ing on her wall. Then she tacked up paper, and 
outlines came on that, and after a while she was able 
to trace them with a pencil. From these small begin- 
nings larger ones came, until finally a large canvas, 
seven feet by four, covering the size of a door, was 
filled with symbolical characters, intended to picture 
the meeting and conditions of all nations, times, and 
races, given in hieroglyphical writing, the same as 
the ancient picturing of historical events. 

From this, rapid development was made, and a 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 71 

large thirteen by eleven feet picture, allegorically 
representing American national conditions — called 
the Sleeping Giantess, — was painted in water-colors. 
Since then, enormous blendings of figures and scenes 
in landscape, characters, and spirit things, and every 
phase of the art of drawing and oil-painting, have 
been executed with skill, — flowers, still life, and 
animal life, marine views, portraits, landscapes, copy- 
ing, and enlarging. She will take a small four-inch 
photograph and enlarge it to three or four feet, and 
will produce an oil-painting with every minute 
detail brought out true and exact. Nature in all 
its exactitude is transferred to canvas, — not embel- 
lished, as most art works are, but in its correct 
delineation. The most noted places of California, 
and wonders in natural grandeur of scenery, are 
transposed to canvas by her uneducated hand. Thus, 
in her sixty-eighth year she paints every thing, small 
and large, and has a large collection of her works 
of art. 

Here is certainly a marvelous phenomenon, that a 
woman in the decline of life, with poor eye-sight, 
should be used to do this fine delicate work to such 
an extent. 

There is one phase of spirit manifestation that I 
have never seen mention made of by those who 
expound on the knowledge of spirit-power. While 
gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and elementaries are 
liberally told of, no one seems to have suspected 
that spirits might simulate some character foreign 
to their real nature, if occasion offered, or they 
desired. 



72 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

In " The Laws of Being," page 111, I have shown 
how vividly a spirit personated four or five charac- 
ters at one performance ; and I see no reason 
why this may not be done by others as well. One 
of the most marvelous feats of this kind was mani- 
fested to me, and would quite stagger credulity, if 
its truth had not been so fully demonstrated as 
it was. 

At a certain time I had the company of two lady- 
spirits, one a near relative, the other hud been a nun 

— my teacher in childhood. While engaged talk- 
ing to them, a foreign spirit made himself familiar 
in the character of a green Irishman. From one 
subject of remark to another he flew, using the Irish 
brogue, taking the most ignorant form of that nation- 
ality, amusing the ladies, and offering his services 
as coachman, &c. He went on to tell of his mother- 
marks on his side resembling a potato patch, por- 
trayed every other conceivable wild Irishman's 
freak, and was dressed in a costume to suit his 
character. During all this, these ladies were engaged 
in teaching him manners, and cultivating elevating 
ideas and gentility. Thus, this burlesque and farce 

— at times truly amusing — were kept up one week, 
when, at an interval of rest, my friend the nun said, 
" Mrs K., why do you object to the presence of such 
a one," — giving the name. I replied, " I do not." 
She made some remark, and said, " He is here." 
Then the one mentioned addressed me, and the con- 
versation was general. 

Some hours later they were talking about the 
character and its personations, when my relative said : 



SPIEITS EXTERNALIZING. 73 

" Yes ; but he had none of the Irish character, nor 
manner of the Irishman, when in this life ; it was not 
natural to him." Immediately I remarked : " You 
don't mean to say that that was J.'s performance all 
the time ? " They replied, " Yes." If a thunder- 
bolt had struck me, I could not have been more 
confounded. I had not power nor inclination to ask 
the whys and wherefores of such a manifestation. 
When I state that this spirit had been my compan- 
ion in life on earth ten years, and had gone through 
all this performance without my detecting who he 
was, I leave it to the reader to judge to what extent 
spirits can simulate something foreign to themselves. 
Further, this person showed no traces of that 
nationality when on earth, but was a native Ameri- 
can of Scotch-Irish descent. It may be asked, Why 
was this done ? The spirit was in such a state of en- 
thrallment that he had not risen to a spiritual condi- 
tion. He had never before made himself known to me 
from his side of life. This was his first approach to 
my elements, and he hesitated until he had fully 
entered into the external. Further, he was not 
happy nor contented, and this exercise threw off 
certain elements, and brought him into higher condi- 
tions. He was afterwards very plain and natural in 
all his ways. 

I will give but one other illustration of this form 
of externalizing, to show that it is practiced. This 
is also of a connection — one who had been in spirit- 
life thirty-five years, and had never, up to this time, 
approached her relatives in spirit-spheres. On this 
occasion they all assembled in my room. Yet they 



74 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

were as two distinct parties ; one did not draw near 
the other. At one side of the room, near me, was 
the lower grade ; on the opposite side, seated on a 
lounge, were the others. Nothing passed between 
them except through me. After a time, Eliza began 
to simulate the character of a raw Irish girl in accent, 
brogue, and manner. Then she arose and danced an 
Irish jig, accompanying herself with the air suited 
to that dance, " Tral la la, tral la la ; " at the same 
time she was costumed in the style of her 3 r oung 
days, more than fifty-five years ago. Thus she ad- 
vanced to the opposite side and returned ; rested 
while talking, then repeated the dance. In this way 
she performed most of the night. When she had ac- 
complished her feat, the friends on the other side 
remarked that she had perfectly portrayed the char- 
acter she assumed ; yet she never in her life on earth 
resembled it. 

The principle involved in this manifestation, is, a 
soul enters within itself and shows the elements it 
held by inheritance that may never have been exter- 
nalized, and that the conditions of primogeniture 
may exist in an individual and be concealed by edu- 
cation and circumstances. 

From these examples I conclude, as I am told, that 
a soul may show itself from any standpoint it may 
have imbibed from. I see no reason why one may 
not show himself with horns, hoofs, and tail, as well 
as a white swan, — which was really done by a lady 
spirit to Charles H. Foster. It is only masquerading 
when they have a purpose in so doing. In the very 
many instances of materializing, matter is utilized to 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 75 

do the same thing ; they may show themselves nat- 
urally or in some other character. 

As the elements are no impediment to soul-move- 
ment, one may act through them as well. Hence, a 
pigmy may characterize in the bowels of the earth, 
in a coal-mine, or elsewhere, as well. That there 
are gnomes, for the time, there can be no doubt, — 
poor, dark, uncultured souls, that never have known 
anything beyond their location and avocation. If 
they die, or are killed, they are bound to those con- 
ditions for some time ; as much as a scientist would 
be to his calling. 

I know of two old spirits who have traveled and 
explored clear through this earth, and under the sea, 
taking weeks in doing it. These must have been 
spirits in the earth for the time being. I have never 
had any experience with haunted places, ghosts, and 
the like ; but I have heard it asked : " Why should 
an apparition show itself and the victim, or person 
against whom an offense had been committed, at the 
same time ? " 

This should be a simple thing to understand, when 
it is seen that a spirit can present any picture ; and 
any event of life may be as easily mirrored to a seer 
as themselves. When considered as a psychological 
effect produced on the mind of another, the phenom- 
enon is easily comprehended. 

This phase of picturing memory and conditions is 
daily given to some mediums, who convey the result 
to those for whom it is intended. As it is a phase 
not well understood, and its effects are too often 
taken for spirit realities, greatly misleading in vest i- 



76 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

gators, I deem it of sufficient interest to illustrate. 
I give the following example to show what an erro- 
neous conclusion a seer may reach concerning things 
presented. 

I visited a mediums' conference in San Francisco, 
where each one gave to the audience, as the spirit 
moved, to see or hear. As I wished to see and not 
be seen, having no desire to be noticed by spirits, I 
took a seat away from the main part of the assem- 
bly, at one side, in a corner by myself. When the 
conference was nearly over, a lady turned to me and 
said, " A spirit stands beside you," and motioned me to 
come near her. The seeress was a total stranger to 
me, Mrs. H. F. M. Brown. Taking my chair with me, 
I approached her. She described a physical peculi- 
arity of the spirit. I could not mistake the identity, 
but, like others, I thoughtlessly asked for the name. 
This was a silly thing of me, for the name I was 
steadily thinking of. The spirit would not give the 
name, but showed her — " MaineT This was far bet- 
ter, and clearly fixed the identity, Maine being his 
place of nativity. I had not given it a thought. 
Thus he refused to repeat my thoughts. 

Then she said, " I see Lucy ; " then, " I see John." 
I remarked, " But they are not dead." " Oh, I some- 
times see the living," she replied. She then remarked, 
that she supposed the spirit belonged to a large com- 
mercial city, for he showed her shipping and other 
signs of commerce. 

Here was a medley and a confusion that most per- 
sons would have rejected as incorrect, and the seeress 
would have got but little credit. But I preferred to 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 77 

set her right, and to satisfy her that it meant some- 
thing. I said, " It is a little misunderstood. Maine 
is the birthplace of the spirit present ; but the ship- 
ping and commerce belongs to John ; he is a mariner, 
and has been familiar with large maritime ports all 
his life." She was pleased, and said, ik Perhaps 
that's what it means." 

But the query to answer is, Did she see u Lucy " 
and u John ; " were they present ? My brother and 
his child, as I had seen them five years before, and 
at the time of this interview, as now, residing in 
Brazil ? No ; they were not present in any form. 
The whole thing was a picture, presented by the 
one spirit present who knew those things connected 
with me ; and perhaps was prompted to give it by my 
mother, who would like to give such a reminder of 
friends. I since asked of the spirit in regard to the 
circumstances, and he told me it was his presenta- 
tion. Further, he is an adept in giving those 
mirages. 

Thus, a good seer may not interpret what is pre- 
sented ; a semblance may be taken for a reality, and 
credit not be given for what they do see, by those 
who receive the same. 

This phase of picturing is common in spirit-life. 
Spirits take up these records, and show them with 
remarkable clearness sometimes; yet it is seldom 
taken into account by investigators that they are only 
presentations, and not realities. 

When a spirit presents something that he had no 
concern with in life, to parties whom he never saw 
while on earth, certainly, I see no obstacle in the way 



78 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

of a spirit showing the surroundings, accompany- 
ments, and all persons whom they may have been 
associated with in the unhappy events that trouble 
them. When these facts are known, there will be 
no mystery in it. 

It is interesting to know that such ways and 
means are resorted to as one of" the phases of spirits 
externalizing, and it is a grand idea even to contem- 
plate that spirits have such power over matter, and 
can control so many ways of its expression. 

In these illustrations of spirit manifestations, I . 
have only shown the action from the supernal or 
occult side of life. There remains another form 
that is not by any means understood, and gives 
occasion for various theories on the character of 
spirit-phases. It is this : Occasionally, accounts are 
given of beings seen in small fantastic forms, figures, 
miniature-like appearances, &c. By some, a very 
different construction is put on these appearances 
than what they should bear. As I have seen a query, 
asking for an explanation, I give this example, and 
the facts associated therewith, as it will convey some 
light on this phase of manifestation. 

In the year 1875, my own spirit practiced the 
exercise of leaving the earthly, taking spirit-form, 
and moving among assemblies of disembodied spirits. 
This spirit-form was noticeably small, being not 
more than two and a half feet high, but of firm, 
well-built proportions, even to costume and shape, 
with nothing vaporous, nubilous, or ethereal about 
it, but simply a miniature figure of myself. The 
contrast with the earthly form, which is five feet 



SPIRITS EXTERNALIZING. 79 

seven inches high, weight one hundred and seventy- 
five avoirdupois, would make this difference YQvy 
apparent. Yet this miniature being was very active, 
and exercised intelligence of the strongest kind, 
in will and individuality. It seemed to me more 
active than when in the earthly form. It would com- 
ment on, even ridicule, things associated with myself 
sitting in the chair. 

Here, my soul was actuating a spirit-being, and 
showing me in two forms with the one intelligence, 
for I could hold no thought outside of this little 
being, only what was a reflex action from it. I 
knew it was myself and held my life, while the 
form in the chair was of earth. This was witnessed 
by hundreds of spirits, time after time. 

Of this manifestation I have given a more detailed 
account in "The Laws of Being," section on 
"Duality." 

This explains, to some extent, the accounts giveL 
of dwarfs, pigmies, and deformed shapes of spirit- 
things; gnomes, "Little-Hammers," and other active, 
expressive beings. 

There is no doubt of these being spirits in reality. 
Rest assured, they are souls that take that form, 
because they can do so with far better effect. 

The principal law that acts in these operations 
is that which enables the spirits to condense the 
spirit-matter to a focus, and so concentrate its form, 
so that it can be more clearly seen. 

It is well known that the spirit, in itself, when 
seen, is a mere point of light from which evolve 



80 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

the shapes that are seen ; the more expansive, the 
more transparent they are. 

This can be very readily understood by an illus- 
tration. If a piece of India-rubber, say one half 
inch square, is soft and pliable, it can be distended 
several feet, and become thin and transparent, but 
as soon as the tension is released it will contract. 
Just so pliable is the substance called spirit-element, 
or matter, and it is used in about the same way. 

It is quite essential to know this operation, in 
order that mediums may understand the many ways 
spirits resort to for an effect. 

It is supposed by investigators, and those who get 
messages, that a medium should understand the 
meaning and interpret the clear application of what 
they see ; whereas, they are only given them to 
transmit, for the recipient to understand and to 
interpret for himself. 

Such are the ways and means of spirit-expression 
from the esoteric to the external. I have not touched 
on an}^ of the many phases that are commonly known 
to exist ; these speak for themselves, and are handled 
by abler pens. I purpose only to treat of the occult- 
form, or that which is behind the veil. 



TEE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 81 



Section IX. 

THE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 
SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 

The first essential of being is to know of self. 
The next most important thing is to know of the 
immediate condition after the demise of the body. 
To know what relation one state has with another, 
should be of interest to all. 

There is no subject that humanity should desire 
more to know of than that relating to the conditions 
immediately following the decease of external life — 
called death. At the same time, there is none so 
little known, and so much disregarded by all except 
spiritualists, who in some directions take notice of 
this state ; but even they have not very correct ideas 
in regard to it in all respects. All other classes and 
sects seem to have made the greatest efforts to remove 
to some great distance the soul from its late scenes 
and sphere of action, and to locate it in some imagi- 
nary place of bliss or torment. 

It does seem inconceivably strange how such a 
constructed theory ever obtained a hold on intelli- 
gent minds, without any proof to sustain it — a the- 
ory that rests entirely on the imagination. Here let 
me say, that the reader will be disappointed if he 
expects to find in these pages an account of some 
fixed abiding-place — a heaven or hell. I shall not 
6 



82 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

carry him to any remote sphere, but remain just in 
that of earth, and show, so far as I am able, the 
mind's action in that state. 

It is of the least moment to us to know what is in 
the far distance, or what place will be our home some 
thousands of years from now ; but, one sphere at a 
time ; let one grade after another take care of itself. 
It is the present state that makes the next, and is a 
prototype of what it will be. Build in this one for 
the next. 

Spiritualism truly teaches that the character and 
mentality remain the same in the sphere of life that 
succeeds the present. But nowhere have I seen it 
shown, exactly, what the results or conditions are 
immediately at the separation of body and soul — 
the most momentous time of our being. By this 
" exactly " I mean to say, that most statements on 
this theme are intended to measure all by the same 
rule. All are not alike in the conditions of life ; so 
all do not experience the same results at death. 
What each individual experiences is peculiar to that 
individual soul. Thus, by showing a variety of 
these experiences, a good estimate can be formed of 
the whole. 

Although these examples may, some of them, ap- 
pear strangely at variance with popular ideas and 
teachings on this state, they are, nevertheless, well 
proved to be true. They were shown to me in 
courts, or assemblies, of superior spirits, who could 
see their truthfulness ; and were even shown for 
this express purpose of informing me of realities. 
Hence, what I state is not the obscure utterance of 



TEE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 83 

one individual spirit. Further, my own knowledge 
of these characters while on earth, and subsequent 
experiences with them from the other side, substan- 
tiate the truth of these statements. 

It is commonly assumed, and extensively taught, 
that our friends continue to take cognizance of us, 
and are familiar with what concerns us, after they 
have left for the other shore. This is not generally 
so, although there are some instances of such action. 
Whether so or not, depends wholly on conditions 
between the individuals — the attractive or repel- 
lent forces existing between them. After the body 
is laid in the bosom of mother earth, the soul may 
remain in total darkness of all those with whom it 
was connected on earth, and never approach them ; 
while some others may keep a close watch on those 
they have an interest in. - 

In order to understand these spirit-states, the prior 
history on earth of the spirits should be understood. 
Hence, occasionally I must introduce the reader to 
the externalities of their lives, or what they were 
when in this world. 

In the year 1839 a connection of mine died. He 
had been a man of some ability ; but sociability in 
business led him to drink, and he became an habit- 
ual drunkard. Where such a state exists, there 
must be distress, discord, and all kinds of unhappy 
conditions in a family. In his it was especially so ; 
and they soon came to want and destitution — were 
virtually turned out of doors for nonpayment of rent. 
Then his wife sought a home for herself and small 
children, and left him. A few months later she sued 



84 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

for and obtained a divorce, and thus freed herself of 
him. After this, he entirely abandoned himself to 
drink, which soon told on his constitution, and a 
year later he died in a mariner's hospital. 

When he had been in spirit thirty-six years, 
at the request of his wife he made his presence 
known to those assembled in my room, and I was 
enabled to witness their first meeting on the other 
side. He called frequently after this first visit, and 
always interested and instructed us in some new 
light regarding the life beyond, that was marvelous 
to learn. 

He told the conditions and incidents of his spir- 
itual life and belongings with remarkable vividness, 
and showed the blending of the spiritual with the 
external in an unusual clear manner; at the same 
time illustrating the presence of some superior law 
and overruling power which guides and directs all 
things. 

He stated that as soon as his body was buried, a 
spirit led him to a ship, and told him he could go 
to sea and learn his profession. He immediately 
accompanied the ship, and had continued going to 
sea all the years he had been in spirit-life. From 
one vessel to some other he would change, and in 
this way passed several times round the world, visit- 
ing all the ports of the several oceans. He related 
many of the incidents he had experienced with sail- 
ors and officers on these various vessels. Never had 
he deviated from his line of occupation but once, 
when he was informed that one of his ancestors — 
the oldest, or the last — was dead, and he was wanted 



THE IMMEDIATE ACTION AFTER DEATH. 85 

to attend the burial. Of this ceremony he gave a 
minute relation, in which he stated that all the fam- 
ily of the spirits attended as pall-bearers. Never, 
in all these years, had he approached, or heard from, 
his wife or children, although going in and out of 
the port where some of them were. Everything in 
regard to them was to him as silent as the grave. 

When he had been in spirit thirty-three years, he, 
being then on a vessel in the Pacific ocean, received 
this notice from the infinite source of intelligence : 
"You are called to be present at the death of the 
mortal form of your wife," — naming the place. He 
did not hesitate a moment, but took a direct course 
for a city he had visited a number of times. 

Arriving in her presence, he could not see that 
the earthly life of his wife was near its end, as she 
was moving about the room ; and he concluded that 
he would wait and watch the progress of events. 
But shortly the woman had a spasmodic attack of 
her disease, lay down, and died in half an hour. 
Even to him it seemed surprisingly quick. No other 
spirit, that he could see, was present. He remained 
by the family and watched the whole proceedings. 
When the family came together at the table, he an- 
alyzed the group to note the existing ties among 
them. He gave every detail of what transpired 
during the preparations for the funeral. 

To obtain additional proof that he was present at 
the exit of his wife, I questioned to know of things 
connected with it. In reply, he gave the exact ar- 
rangement of the room, doors, windows, and furni- 
ture ; the parties present, and their movements ; the 



86 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

coming and going ; the passing of money to buy 
crape; the dressing. Nothing was omitted. But 
the great ecstasy of his delight among the family 
were two little girls, whom he wanted to fondle and 
hug. He minutely described their dress and adorn- 
ments; how pretty they looked, and how they had filled 
his soul with delight, without knowing whose they 
were. When told they were his grandchildren, he was 
speechless with amazement, and could hardly credit 
that it was so, since he had not discovered the rela- 
tionship at the time. 

He was so exact in detailing the appearance of 
these children, in white dresses and black ribbons, 
that the wife, who, as a spirit, was present, thought 
it not likely to be correct ; but, as I was present and 
assisted them, I could certify to his statement being 
true in all its details. 

When it came to the funeral exercises, the great- 
est surprise to him was the elaborate, showy coffin. 
His wonder was, to know what was to be done with 
such an elegant piece of furniture — as he styled it. 
He concluded it was to be set up on some shelf to 
be looked at. He compared its dazzling silver deco- 
rations to the rough boards in which his body was in- 
cased. Waiting for the ceremony to be gone through 
with, he would not stop in the room to listen to the 
long sermon, but promenaded outside of the house. 
When the procession started, he took up his position 
as pall-bearer, and traveled beside the hearse. As 
he was the only spirit present, he could have gone 
in a carriage, but he preferred to act as escort to the 
body. At the grave he was greatly surprised and 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 87 

disappointed to see the coffin put in the ground. 
He thought it a wasteful extravagance to bury such 
a showy piece of furniture. When it was covered 
he immediately left. Thus, this spirit showed us with 
what vividness one may take in all the externalities 
of life. At the same time it shows what an over- 
ruling power there is, that guides and directs all 
things. To this spirit there was, in all that he 
related, a very special purpose carried out. 

Of the woman, his wife, — where was she ? What 
was her consciousness ? 

She had been a sufferer for years with spasmodic 
attacks of cancer, but went about, and was actively 
engaged in her room to within a few minutes of her 
death. At the last hour she passed out in great 
agony and in total unconsciousness of spirit, like 
one in a cataleptic state. The effect of this was, 
that she was dead to every thing until the time of 
the funeral, when semi-consciousness returned, and 
she could see the adornments of the body and what 
surrounded it. Myself being the only one present 
she recognized, sensed, or could see, she caused me 
tangibly to feel her presence. The weakness of 
spirit was so great that she could not revive, and so 
soon as the body was buried, she subsided into the 
previous unconsciousness. For two and a half 
years she thus remained ; while through me came 
her returning strength and consciousness, and in 
my presence her meeting and reunion with all her 
connections that had preceded her to spirit-life. 

One of her ancestors most interested in her had 
been informed at the time of her death of the same, 



88 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

by the same force of intelligence, the voice that 
speaks in space, but waited for her calling when 
she desired to see him. The same it had been with 
the man who had been her husband, and others ; 
none of them sought her until she called for, and 
desired to see them. 

This I believe is the law : that, when there is an 
earnest desire of the soul, it will be heard and 
answered ; but if there is no desire, they will remain 
silent to each other. Further, if a soul is not in a 
state to see or receive another, it will not do it, 
because there can be no force. For soul is the most 
impenetrable of all universal things. 

I had a striking example shown me that all souls 
do not take cognizance of things of earth, nor even 
move in spirit-life at death, but remain dead, as it 
were, in spirit for some length of time. 

One, whom I was intimately acquainted with, had 
been dead fifteen years, and during that time had 
been almost continually in a torpid state. He 
informed me, in the presence of those who could see 
its reality, that he never left the location of the 
place where he was buried. When first emerging 
from his state of torpor, he was so unhappy that he 
soon returned to rest in his grave. He never in 
these years knew one incident relating to his affairs, 
his wife, or his children : nor had he been at any 
time in their presence, but was ignorant of every- 
thing concerning them. I was much interested in 
this man's condition, and many things concerning 
him I heard and saw. There was a cause for this 



8H0W1NQ SPIRIT CONDITIONS. gfl 

state of silence, but it is not essential to the facts 
_ive it here. 

many soul- do not enter immediately 
a si spiritual existence is true. There are 

spirits that seern. as it were, obliterated, so little 
of them being left that they are hardly recognizable 
as human souls. Yet there is a spark remaining ; 
there is a soul-principle which corner to itself, even 
if ages go by. before the time is reached to fix itself 
in spirit. The principle is. there is an innermost of 
their being, the soul, and if it is obscured with the 
conditions of earth, it will for a period remain 
silent and inactive, but in time, as conditions that 
affect them change, they will externalize. Thus it 
depends on the fitness in the mental, moral, and 
spiritual state of the soul at the time of death, or 
exit from the form, what its manifestations and 
movements will be. That there is another side 
to this state of being is equally true. Some may 
take an active part in the externalities of life, and 
even not be very fine in spirit qualities, perhaps 
quite inferior. In fact, those are spirits of much 
inferiority who manifest and externalize, as the 
following examples will show. 

In the year 18C7. a man I was well acquainted 
with died. He was rich in valuable real 
owning hundreds of city lots. Being a man of 
shrewd business calculation, he arranged his affairs 
in a good bu-iness. as well as legal, shape, to his 
liking, for the benefit of his family, preparatory to 
his expected death, as he was passing away with 
consumption. Eight years after his death he was 



90 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

very social and familiar among my spirit visitors. 
Of the many things he had to say, he gave this 
statement of his doings : — He had never ceased to 
watch his executor. He could tell every move, 
every entry made on his books ; could dictate to 
him, move him to his wishes, and converse with him 
as to a proper management of business. These 
things seemed to engage the principal part of his 
attention ; and he enjoyed his business transactions, 
from his side of life, with the reality of the external. 

A singular and very remarkable incident, associa- 
ted with this man, took place while he was familiarly 
near me, showing spirit-action immediately after 
death. 

The woman he left as his wife, died, and so very 
suddenly as to shock all who knew her. She was 
not a woman of any culture, acquirements, or talent, 
but gross and vulgar in manner, and had nothing to 
recommend her but the property her husband left. 
She had married again, and at this time was the 
wife of another. 

I was residing at the time not more than one hun- 
dred and sixty yards from, and in a direct line of, 
her dwelling. 

About five or six hours after her death, this spirit, 
who had been her husband, and had died eight years 
before, brought her to my rooms, and was earnestly 
engaged talking with her, questioning her on all 
their domestic affairs, property, and her stewardship 
generally. She was much annoyed and somewhat 
displeased that she was dead to external life, saying, 
she did not see the necessity for it ; that she should 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 91 

have lived ; her time was not run out, &c. ; then 
suddenly left. Then he told us of his plans, saying : 
" I brought her here to draw strength and externalize 
from Mrs. K.'s elements. She is fresh and strong 
now, and thinks herself all right ; but just so soon 
as that body is laid in the ground, she will waken 
and lose herself. I know that very well. She 
thinks she will tie on to me and be, as of old, in 
my company, but she is greatly mistaken ; I shall 
not notice her, nor will she be anything to me hence- 
forth. She is not attractive to me. I only wish to 
find out what statement she makes of the general 
things I have an interest in." 

Shortly, the woman was back with us. Thus she 
made trips between her house and my own several 
times through the clay. When night came, what a 
scene I was made acquainted with ! By some 
strange taste, her house was illuminated ; from every 
door, window, and obscure corner rayed forth a 
glaring light. I noticed this from the street as I 
passed it, and questioned its good taste. 

I was no sooner in my room than these spirits 
were by me. The woman was in a rage of anger 
that her house was so grandly illumined, and said, 
" It seems they are trying to put me in hell as quick 
as possible. The house is too hot for me to stop in. 
I had shut off the gas for the summer, and it has 
been put on for this occasion. Lights are even put 
where I never had them, that I may be burned out 
while U13* body lies in the house." 

She also said much else, concerning the doings 
around that house, that did not convey a soothing 



92 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

solace to her feelings, nor peace to her soul. This 
closed her visits for a time. I heard no more of 
her from this night before her burial, until some 
months later. When I did hear from her, she was 
in an uneas} r , disturbed, incoherent state of mind. 

Some time later, when an assembly of spirits was 
present, and her first husband among them, she 
came. She was then as delirious as possible, frantic 
with jealousy of the man she had left with her 
family, and made every wild and unreasonable 
accusation against him. Her state of mentality 
was wretched, and she was more like a maniac in 
her wild ideas and expressions. Although her first 
husband was present, she took no notice of him, 
and did not seem to realize the fact. Neither did 
he seem to care for her, but witnessed this state of 
dementa with a kind of contempt. All he said was, 
she might enjoy herself without his interference. 

I several times subsequently heard of her, but 
she remained in the same delirious, irrational state. 

The principal cause of this woman's troubled con- 
dition was, that her family had become dismembered. 
A wrangling discord set in among them, and they 
became at enmity with each other. All this she 
sensed without an actual knowledge of the reality. 
This, coupled with her own want of accord with 
her changed state, forced her into inharmony with 
her spirit conditions. Thus, an unhappy and reflex 
action from earthly conditions made her wild. 

It is not, however, uncommon for spirits to be in 
this state. I have had experiences with others, 
some even more perturbed than she. It shows itself, 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 93 

for a time, in a want of fixedness in location, an 
inability to enter the conditions of the spiritual, 
coupled with earthly memories of unhappiness. 
They are earth-bound souls for a time. I have 
stated, in " The Laws of Being," that dementa is 
absolutely a state of inharmonious spirit -mentality. 
This cannot be denied when it is exhibited the same 
in a disembodied state, where there is no brain-mat- 
ter to induce it. 

By this it is seen with what vividness one may 
take on the realities of life, meet for a time as old 
friends, and become as strangers when it is found 
there exists no inward attraction for each other. 
It is often set forth in spiritualism that there is a 
reunion, or mating, on the other side of life. This 
wholly depends on the depth of the inward require- 
ments and attractions of the souls interested. Very 
few take the companionship with one they have 
been associated with as mates on earth ; but in- 
stances do occur of such requirements and contin- 
ued mating. I was made familiar with one very 
remarkable instance, which, from its peculiarities 
and singularities, is worthy of notice. 

Fifty years ago there lived in the south of France 
a young married couple lovingly united. The wife 
seemed to have a quick, impulsive temper. The 
man a tease, to aggravate and make her show her 
vim. In these skirmishes she once drew her stiletto 
and punched him in the chest, and made a wound ; 
but it was not serious, and soon healed. At another 
tormenting spat she drew her scissors, and said she 
would kill him, and not fool about it as she did before. 



94 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

At this her husband became angry, and said, as 
his life was in danger from her temper, it was best 
to keep out of harm's way. So he took his depart- 
ure from her. She had an infant at this time two 
or three months old. Her father was much angered 
at her for this proceeding, reprimanded her severely 
for it, and told her the best thing she could do 
would be to enter some convent, hide her disgrace, 
atone for her sin, and cure her temper ; and he would 
take care of the child and make it his heir. As he 
was wealthy, and able to do well by the child, she 
took him at his suggestion, and, to evade his cen- 
sure, entered a convent of the Ursuline order. 

The regulations of these institutions are three 
years novitiate, or probation. At any time before 
the final vows, novitiates can withdraw if they so 
desire. When she had nearly passed the proba- 
tional time, her husband wanted to see her, to in- 
duce her to relinquish her design. So he called for 
that purpose. However, he was only allowed to see 
the Superior, who told him it was useless to attempt 
to influence her to go back on the step taken. He 
earnestly pleaded to see his wife. The Superior in- 
formed him he could not, as she was in retreat for 
her final vows ; and he was thus turned away, 
broken in spirit and hope, to plod life's dreary path 
alone. He afterward became careless and indiffer- 
ent of himself, with no desire only for the time 
being. 

It is also the custom of this order, when a new 
sister has completed her vows, and it is wished to 
isolate her from old memories, and the vicinity of 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 95 

old associations, to send her to some far-distant new 
mission, — as they call it. So, in a few weeks, this 
one was sent to America, never more to see any one 
she had before known, and was the same as dead 
and buried to all interested in her. 

It was here I became acquainted with her as my 
teacher in the Ursuline Convent in New Orleans. I 
ever remember her with sincere affection. She was 
a small, lively, cheerful body, not over-rigid, kind 
and easy with her class. While I was her pupil, she 
received tidings of the death of some near connec- 
tion. I only saw her grief, bat knew not for whom 
it was. After this, knowledge came to me of her 
from the spirit side of life, and I was informed it 
was her husband for whom she mourned. 

It is in this husband that the sequel and the inter- 
est centres. Losing spirit and ambition in life, he 
neglected himself, and not many years after the sep- 
aration from his wife he died. Immediately he was 
told by the superior voice in space — which I have 
before mentioned — that his wife was in America, 
and he might find her. This was a notice for him 
to do so ; but at what place in America she was lo- 
cated, he was not informed. He therefore began in 
the Canadas, and went through every institution of 
the order there, and then through the United States, 
inspecting every one, until he came to the last and 
final one, in which he found her. 

Having succeeded in his search, he was content to 
wait developments. For this he took up his abiding- 
place within the institution, watching its workings, 
and developing conditions he desired surrounding 



96 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

her. More than a year was occupied in this way 
before he accomplished his desires, when he ap- 
peared to her in her chamber. 

From time to time he would do this, and it became 
a great trouble to her. Putting the construction on 
it that he must be restless, and needed prayers, she 
redoubled her devotions in his behalf for the mitiga- 
tion of purgatorial torments. From this he took the 
cue to mimic her useless prayers. After a time she 
besought him not to trouble her, as it compelled her 
to pray so hard, and to give penance in his behalf to 
such an extent that she became exhausted and dis- 
tressed in consequence. Then he told her he would 
not trouble her, as he did not need her prayers ; but 
he would break her vows, and take her from the 
order. 

Not a great length of time after, she was attacked 
with an acute malady of the viscera, causing spasms 
and unconsciousness. For a time she was thought 
to be dead ; but she soon after revived, and told the 
Superior of her interview with her husband, and that 
he was determined to compel her to break her vows 
and take her departure from the convent. 

I should judge, by the extent and impressiveness 
of the communication, that the spirit controlled the 
woman while she was in an unconscious state. The 
Superior herself told me of this part of the transac- 
tion. The impression it made on her was painful and 
annoying, and she looked upon her statements as the 
ravings of a disordered mind. Immediately after, 
there was a return of spasms, in which she died. 

Thus released from the form, she was immediately 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 97 

cared for by her spirit-husband, and they became 
inseparably united. They were as twin souls; the 
being of one was dependent on that of the other. 
She had been in spirit more than thirty years when 
she made these repeated calls on me, and gave me one 
whole day's visit ; and, at this time, her Oscar was an 
indispensable attendant, and constantly exhibited all 
the anxiety of a young lover for his Marie*. It was 
Oscar and Marie ', in dearest bonds of union, love, 
and progress. 

What thoughts will suggest themselves from such 
an example as this, it is best to let the reader judge 
for himself. Was it a supernatural intervention, to 
show that they could not transgress a natural law? 
Who can tell? After parting in anger, and after 
the taking of sacred orders and vows of marriage 
to Christ and his Church, these vows were set aside 
by divine law, and the natural obligation that had 
been assumed had to be satisfied. From such ex- 
amples it can be judged whether there is not some 
interior power of soul-law that governs the condi- 
tions of mating in spirit-life. More on this subject 
will be shown as we advance. From this we will 
change our subject to other moods and conditions 
immediately attending the transfer from earth to 
spirit. 

On November 4, 1875, the steamship Pacific was 
sunk, forty miles off Cape Flattery. At the time, I 
was residing in the city she had taken her freight of 
merchandise and passengers from, and the officers 
and crew, and many passengers, were well known 
by the residents of the place. On Sunday, at two 
7 



98 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

P. M., her loss, with all of her two hundred passen- 
gers, was telegraphed, and notices put up of the 
same, causing great commotion aud feeling among 
the citizens. 

In the evening, I being alone in a passive mood, 
and having no special thought of the calamity, a 
spirit began to talk to me very finely, with pure, 
spiritual expression, and alluding to the lost ship, 
said : "I am not accountable for the loss, and the 
sending all those souls into eternity unwarned. 
There lies that great vessel on the bottom of the 
sea, that I commanded, lost in such a pitiful way, 
and all those lives have passed from earth without 
warning, carrying anguish to many homes. I am not 
responsible; I know not how it came about." 

At the time this was being said, a picture was 
presented to me of the ship, lying on the bottom of 
the ocean, resting on one side. I asked no questions. 

Two months later, January 12, 1876, a band of 
spirits was by me, — one of the number being Theo- 
dore Parker, — when a stranger came into our midst, 
announcing himself as Captain Howell, of the lost 
" Pacific." 

To well understand what here follows, it should 
be stated of Captain Howell, that he had been a 
cadet at West Point : a man of experience, travel, 
and acquaintance with the ways of the world. 

For the entertainment of this circle of spirits he 
entered into a familiar, social recital of things then 
occupying public attention in this mundane sphere 
of ours. He related the incident of his forty -eight 
hours' floating on the raft, or float, with anothei 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 99 

man, until he lost consciousness. This man on the 
float with him was picked up as one of the only two 
survivors found, to tell the tale of her going down. 
By this rescued man's account of the time the 
Captain died, he could have been dead but a few 
hours when he first came near me and communicated. 

Immediately, when he found himself in spirit, his 
first impulse was to start for his ship and discover, 
if possible, the cause and extent of her condition. 
He inspected every timber and plank in her ; found 
her rotten and honey-combed from the teredo; that 
she was not fit to float, and it was questionable how 
the passage would have terminated had she not been 
run into. Of her unseaworthiness he was vehemently 
expressive, condemning the inspectors, and the impo- 
sition practiced in giving certificates. 

He then gave a review of his own history, his 
connection with Jefferson Davis, and his antipathy to 
him. Gliding into spiritualism, he said he gave it some 
attention, and was favorable to it. From this theme 
he passed to Woodhullism and its practices among 
the traveling public. This led to the Beecher and 
Tilton discussion, and he gave a vivid account of its 
effects upon the public mind. At the same time, 
several other themes of less public interest were 
touched upon. These subjects then engrossed public 
attention. 

During this entertainment, which lasted all night, 
about nine hours, the circle clustered around him, 
seated at the foot of my bed. Theodore Parkei 
was chairman, or leader. Every few minutes he, or 
some one of them, would ask a question, as they 



100 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

wished more particular information on points that 
were being discussed. The interest in what was 
said was to all most absorbing. 

Towards morning Cenis came, saying, "Some* 
thing is attracting great attention here." Parker 
replied, " Yes ; we have a new arrival from earth, 
of much interest. We have had a feast of an 
entertainment." Then, addressing the Captain, he 
said : " We are always happy to greet new-comers, 
Captain, and well-informed minds especially, and we 
thank you for the information you have conveyed to 
us from the external world." 

Then, addressing me, he said : " There, Mrs. K., 
you see how we receive information from the out- 
side world. These arrivals from earth are like 
passengers of travel, bringing news from father- 
land." 

I have given this extended detail, showing this 
manner of intercommunion, as it is illustrative 
of the reality of social gatherings, and the way 
information is transmitted among spirits. To me, it 
was exceedingly entertaining : not for the subjects 
discussed, for these I knew of, but as showing these 
phases of spirit-life, and the intimate blending of 
the interests of the two worlds, one merging into 
the other. We will now consider the more immedi- 
ate condition of the spirit at the time of death, and 
what its sensibilities and requirements are. 

In the spring of 1877 I had as near neighbors 
an Irish family. The man was a great sufferer, 
dying with complicated maladies. They were rigid 
Roman Catholics, and he had all the ceremonies of 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 101 

his church administered, and died while their prayers 
were being said. When dead, his wife came for me 
to render some aid in preparing the corpse. Not 
thinking of my susceptibility of spirit-conditions, I 
went to work earnestly. I washed the face, then the 
hands, and, while so doing, the spirit-hands of the 
corpse closed on mine with a grip so forcible, that I 
looked to see if the corpse had not done it. Imme- 
diately I was filled with the whole sensation of the 
conditions of that body; they went into me like 
electricity, and I became deathly sick, even to 
vomiting. 

Six weeks later, I was sitting alone in my room, 
when a small black cross was shown me, and some 
spirit began talking, saying, " That is of no use to 
me now. I am free of such symbols. I use it to 
show myself as one risen from the dead." Other 
remarks were made, of no importance to repeat now. 

A couple of weeks after this call, this same black 
'cross was before me. The spirit wanted a message 
given to Ms wife, advising her of what would be to 
her interest to do, and not to do, in regard to a 
change of location. 

I could not attempt to convey his wishes to her. 
Her great bigotry to church-doctrines, and general 
ignorance, forbade it. If I had broached such a theme, 
she would have shut the door on me, and told me it 
was the work of the devil, and she wanted none of his 
imps near her. Perhaps she would have done worse. 
Such, at least, would have been my reception with 
any message from her husband ; so she was none 
the wiser for his making known his presence to me. 



102 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

The following manifestation from one I had known, 
and connected in a family I was associated with, 
gives much the same idea of a spirit's interest in 
surroundings. After an absence of some time, I 
returned to the place where they resided in the 
autumn of 1877, while the eldest member, and 
husband to the mother of the family, was dying. 
Immediately after, I was told of his death, without 
my having seen him, and requested to attend his 
funeral. I started to do so, but was too late ; it had 
gone when I reached the house, so I waited until the 
family returned. The family was a numerous one, 
consisting of the wife, her eight grown children, and 
two grandchildren. Very soon this whole family 
sat down to the table for dinner, and I with them. 
My special attention, however, was given to the 
infant, seven months old, which I held in my lap. 
While they were thus engaged eating, a spirit was 
saying to me, " I'm satisfied, I'm satisfied." I did 
not intend to converse with it, so, to distract my 
attention, I gave more notice to the infant I held, 
when the spirit said, very clearly, "Little darling ! " 

Then I asked how he found himself, and how he 
was suited with the change. He answered : " I'm 
satisfied, but very weak. I am so pleased to see 
you all seated around that table at a meal. I only 
wish to thank them for their attention to me, and 
what has been done for me. I have not moved any. 
I must rest to gain strength. I'm satisfied." 

Thus, a spirit, returning with them from his own 
burial, could express these thoughts and wishes, but 
they were not informed of it. If I had intimated to 



SHOWING SPIRIT CONDITIONS. 103 

that assembled family such a thing, it would have 
filled them with horror at me, and been a gross offense 
to them. They would have felfc like showering on 
me the table-ware, of leaving their meal unfinished, 
or of doing something worse ; so I remained silent, 
and they continued in ignorance of what had 
occurred. I afterwards was informed that the last 
recognition and words this man spoke on earth was, 
to notice the infant I was holding, and to say, 
"Little darling!" 

I have given these examples to show how near 
and how readily spirits may take on conditions of 
the external, and how free they are to communicate. 
Yet, never is such a thing thought of by those* they 
leave. Immediately, when the breath leaves the 
body, it is carried out ; all approach is forbidden by 
a fear of committing sacrilege against the dead, and 
it is believed they are gone beyond accessibility, to 
some distant heaven or hell. 

Theology has educated the world to look with 
horror on any such approach or accessibility, and 
both those that leave and those that remain are made 
to feel the distance. In fact, every move is made 
with that view. It is the unrelenting policy of the 
Church to forbid all knowledge of disembodied man. 

As it may be of interest to know something of 
the conditions to be observed before burial, I give 
here these general rules, apparently common to all. 
They have been shown me so often, that I take them 
to form the invariable law. 

A few hours after the breath leaves the body the 
mentality and consciousness recovers ; at least, until 



104 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

the body is buried, there will be more or less activity 
of the spirit. No body is buried, without the soul 
that has vacated it seeing and knowing something 
of its condition and manner of disposal. When it 
is disposed of, or buried, the connection is lost. 
Then, some may take a rest of a considerable length 
of time in silence. Others may not be able to 
establish their balance in spirit immediately. Others 
may become erratic. Various other conditions 
supervene, some one way, some another. Before 
burial is the most favorable time to commune and 
bring that soul out, or ascertain its wishes if desired, 
provided a fair medium is accessible. If a seance 
can he held, it will be beneficial to the spirit. 

As little candle-light as possible, at any time near 
a corpse, is best ; quiet and darkness are soothing and 
reviving. 

In this section I have shown what a diversity of 
conditions there are. The way of one is not the 
way of another. Each is a law unto himself of his 
own movements. This same law they act by through 
time. Do not expect to gauge one by another's 
movements. The spirit-land is as heterogeneous in 
the diversity of the character of its inhabitants as 
is the earth. 



ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TRANSGRESSION. 105 



Section X. 

MAN'S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TRANSGRES- 
SION.— LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 

Perhaps there is no subject, condition, or state 
of interest in which humanity is concerned, of more 
importance to know, at the same time one that is 
more diversely treated in theory, than the law of 
future rewards and punishments. 

It would be a colossal task to enter into a recital 
of all the ideas that have been presented on the sub- 
ject, and one person cannot possibly know all these 
various theories, from the doctrine of a never-end- 
ing, burning, brimstone hell, — so familiar to ortho- 
dox Christians, — in which poor souls are pitch- 
forked forever, to that of the optimist, who rushes 
as far the other way, and teaches that all that is, is 
right, that there is no such thing as sin, that evil is but 
undeveloped good, and that man is not accountable 
for transgression, for it is only the idiosyncrasy of 
his nature, his inheritance, and an element that impels 
him, and dictates his actions. 

Of these two extremes, the first — in relation to a 
burning hell, so long held as a terror to the un- 
godly by Christian theology — is no longer worthy 
of consideration by an intelligent mind. Spiritual- 
ism has put its fires out, and blown the ashes to 
the winds. It has conclusively proved that no such 



106 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

location exists. Hence, it has passed its time of 
life, and may be classed with the obsolete ideas of 
the dark ages. 

Optimism, however, is more insidious, as it is 
taught by a class of minds calling themselves lib- 
erals, and by some spiritualists, and is calculated to 
work the greatest evil to those who rely on it to 
shield them from the consequences of wrong-doing. 
It is questionable whether humanity is not benefited 
more by restraint from fear of future torments than 
it would be by a perfect freedom to act out every 
impulse of its nature, satisfying every desire, without 
respect to any future accountability. 

It is to be regretted that the doctrine of " what- 
ever is, is right," has found advocates and teachers 
in the new dispensation. Nevertheless, it is so, and 
verifies the statement that I have already made, that 
some teach from their individual ideas, without know- 
ing the truth of spirit-conditions. 

What relation of truth Optimism has to matter, 
elements, or the order of things in the universe, that 
is adapted to produce the most good, or what bear- 
ings it may have on worlds in space, it is not for me, 
or others, to say, as we cannot know the law that 
moves all things. But in its application to soul — 
the constituent principle of intelligence — it has no 
place. Soul is not governed by any law outside of 
itself. It is transcendent in action, as well as most 
potential. It is because of the existence of super- 
ficial spiritualism that this esoteric nature of being 
is not understood, and, to a great extent, not even 
recognized. 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 107 

Why, it may be queried, is this so ? For the rea- 
son that the majority are not students, searchers, 
or thinkers, in reality. They are merely surface- 
swimmers, who devote themselves to catching the 
small insects that float along, with which to gratify 
their appetites; and, like the cuttle-fish, these su- 
perficials darken the transparent waters with their 
inky emissions, blinding those who float near them. 
It matters not that some of these are mediums ; 
their positive, preconceived ideas will darken the 
surrounding waters with their element, and what 
they give will be of the same hue and kind. 

This section will show : — 

That there is a principle in man, indescribably and 
fearfully made in expression and action. 

That there is an overruling Power that demands 
an accounting for all that is done by man. 

That every talent given to man is to be accounted 
for by him. 

That man will pass in review of judgment for 
every act and transgression. 

That a crushing state of mental torture may, and 
does, overshadow some spirits. 

That no vicarious atonement will be efficacious in 
spheres beyond, but that every soul must atone for 
itself, and work out its own salvation. 

And yet I might, like others, wish to conceal this 
dark revelation of spirit-life. But why should I ? 
The object of these pages is to show facts, — man's 
accountability to man, and the law of retributive 
justice. To do this, absolute facts must be given. 

It has been my experience to be made acquainted 



108 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

with the conditions in spirit of those I knew when 
they were on earth. The spirit sequel to these lives 
on earth has been furnished me from the other side 
of life, and thus I have been shown, in an unmis- 
takable manner by their own expressions and state- 
ments, the conditions and requirements they there 
became subject to. 

If the reader will but bear in mind that the knowl- 
edge here imparted was given by disembodied souls, 
conscious both physically and spiritually ; that they 
Came before me as before a tribunal, to render an 
account of their condition ; with the view and pur- 
pose of lifting the veil of the esoteric phase of life, — 
then will it be understood that my mind had no part 
nor parcel in the conditions portrayed. This will be 
self-evident from the history and the unexpected 
information received. 

I must here premise by saying, that while this 
exhibit is most unusual and strange to read of, the 
manner of its being given was a most surprising 
manifestation. Even the band of spirits before 
whom this externalizing took place, stated it to be 
the most unusual, even marvelous, series of mani- 
festations they had ever known to come before one 
on the earth-side of life, in a perfectly normal state ; 
one before whom spirits had to be reviewed to their 
innermost being, as before a confessor, in order that 
they might reach higher conditions. 

To have the thread of understanding continuous, 
as well as clearly comprehensive in its parts to the 
reader, I take up the history of a family from the 
earth-plane, and follow it into spirit. In this form, 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 109 

spirit states will be brought to view, and the tale will 
tell for itself, without further comment from me. I 
will merely preface this by saying that the persons I 
here refer to were my ancestors, of whom I may be 
supposed to know something. 

At the time of the American revolution, 1776, 
there lived in Boston, Massachusetts, a child named 
Elizabeth, who could then take observation of the 
revolutionary incidents of that epoch. At the same 
time a youth in Virginia, named William, was en- 
gaged on the waters of Chesapeake Bay and along 
the coast. He took to the sea as a profession, and, 
in time, became master-mariner. Ten or twelve 
years later, in passages to Boston, he made the ac- 
quaintance of the girl Elizabeth, and married her. 
This couple were the progenitors of the family, and 
the root from which these incidents of life spring. 

At the time of marriage, the husband was master 
of his ship. In those days, a person filling that of- 
fice, and who now would be known as captain, was 
called " master-mariner." His wife accompanied him 
on voyages to and from Europe, until they had three 
children, when a home was made in New York city, 
and there she resided the remainder of her days on 
earth. 

This couple appear to have been comfortably cir- 
cumstanced and happy, until the husband entered 
the house one day and saw a man sitting in their 
apartment, while the woman was engaged making 
her bed. At this simple incident he took a fit of 
jealousy, walked out of the house without saying 
why or wherefore, good-by, or what he should do. 



110 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

In fact, there and then he deserted wife and chil- 
dren, fully intending so to do, and she never saw 
him again. After some considerable time had elapsed, 
he sent word to her that he had taken a ship in Bos- 
ton, and was going to Liverpool. 

It is this deserted wife, the incidents that accom- 
panied her forlorn condition, and the misfortunes put 
upon her, with their sequence in spirit-life, that we 
are to follow, and see what results these things have 
on the next stage of action. 

Thus left in ignorance, doubt, suspense, and anx- 
iet}', she was for years expecting, hoping, and an- 
ticipating the return of her husband from some 
prolonged voyage. As she had only the house they 
lived in, something had to be done for the mainten- 
ance of the family. To this end she worked in 
various ways until her children were able to help 
themselves. The motherly care she thus bestowed 
was repaid in an unusually unkind and heartless 
manner. 

As these transactions had to be accounted for in 
spirit, and carried retribution with them, there is no 
alternative but to give them to my readers as they 
occurred; for as the one relates to the other, the 
spirit sequel will not be understood unless the earth- 
side is known. 

The eldest child, Ann, appears to have possessed 
a violent, bad temper and perverse nature. When 
a young woman, after being absent from home for 
some time, she returned, accompanied by a man 
whom she said she had married, and the two took 
up their abode in her mother's house. After a time, 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. HI 

a child was born to them — a girl. The husband 
was a mariner, whose business was along the coast- 
After a year of care of this family, the mother asked 
for some compensation from the man. He responded 
by saying that he had no legal responsibility in the 
matter, and she could not compel him to pay her 
anything. She then brought legal action against 
him for settlement. As the daughter declared on 
oath, in court, that she was married to him, judg- 
ment was against him, and he settled the claim by 
paying it. 

He returned with his wife to the home of her 
mother, and when again ready to go to sea, he took 
the young child, put it in the arms of its grand- 
mother, and told her to keep it until his return, 
and he would pay for its care. His wife was to go 
with him on the voyage. The result was, the daugh- 
ter went, and the child remained. 

The return, however, never came. The grand- 
mother never afterward heard of him, and she was 
now deserted by her daughter, as she had been, 
years before, by her husband. 

The rearing and care of this child, deserted by its 
parents, to be brought up by one who had labored 
to bring up her own family, with only her own ex- 
ertions to depend upon, was no small matter of 
anxiety. However, the child was kindly and most 
affectionately cared for, until she was thirteen or 
fourteen years of age. After these many years, as 
from the lost, the daughter made her appearance, 
leading by the hand another child, a boy of ten 
years. The account she gave of herself, was, they 



112 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

had gone to Virginia, where she remained while the 
man went to sea and was lost, or disappeared, for 
she did not hear from him. She had married again, 
and had this boy who was with her. His father was 
killed by the bite of a poisonous snake; and now 
she had made her way back. No one knew the 
truth of this statement but herself. Her presence 
was soon perceived, for she set up a demand for the 
control of the girl they had deserted. A system of 
petty annoyances was pursued, such as taking the 
proceeds of her labor, selling her clothing, &c. 

Finally, she obtained control of the girl, offered 
her for sale, and actually sold her to a young man 
for a few shillings. This man took her out of town. 
After a time she returned to her grandmother, and 
reported what had been done. This created some 
commotion, and considerable inquiry was made by 
the grandmother to ascertain the truth. When the 
mother of the girl came to her house, she was told 
that "she never should again look in her face nor 
enter her door." 

Of the sorrows that pursued this girl in conse- 
quence of this episode, I can say nothing here, nor 
are they essential to be known, as only what the 
grandmother had to do with concerns these pages. 
The girl was thoughtless, or ignorant of responsibil- 
ity; for two or three months later she attended a 
mariners' ball, where she met a young English sailor, 
belonging to the navy, who asked her to marry him, 
on their first meeting and no acquaintance. She ac- 
cepted, and there and then was married to him by the 
minister of the mariners' church, and in her ball-attire. 



LAW OF RETEIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 113 

Such a careless, thoughtless act, under the circum- 
stances, would appall most persons to think of doing, 
especially with a stranger, a sailor that would leave 
in a few days with his ship, and possibly never again 
be heard from. When her grandmother was informed 
of this transaction, she was horrified at her temerity, 
and could only say : " As she has sown, so shall she 
reap; as she has made her bed, so shall she lie 
in it." 

The girl at this time was sewing for her livelihood, 
and continued to do so after her sailor-husband had 
gone to sea. In time the trials of motherhood were 
upon her. Having no home or place of shelter for 
such requirements, she was taken to a lyiug-in 
hospital, where she gave birth to a child, a girl. 
As the young mother lingered very sick, she became 
quite low, and, perhaps being insufficiently cared for, 
her state became extremely pitiful. This coming to 
the hearing' of her grandmother, she visited her and 
had her removed to her own home, to be cared for 
by herself. 

At this kind, humane act, her son William, then 
a young man, became incensed against his mother, 
and said, if she were going to take in another child, 
to be imposed upon as she was with the first, he 
would leave. To this the old lady replied, she 
would not turn them out of doors. At this her son 
did leave. He took his departure from her in this 
trying, hour, left the city, and she never heard of 
him after, nor the direction he went. This was the 
third man who took the same track to oblivion, 
abandoning her to want and difficulty. The young 
8 



114 THE LOGIC OF FACTS, 

mother she cared for until well. A few months 
later, her sailor-husband returned and took his wife 
and her child to himself, gave up the sea, and made 
his livelihood on land the remainder of his life. 
The old lady had yet one child with her, the young- 
est girl, grown to womanhood. 

Now a calamity befell her home ; it was destroyed 
by fire, and she lost all she had but the ground. A 
law was then in force in New York, forbidding the 
erection of any wooden buildings within the fire 
limits. This was within those limits. Hence, she 
was barred out, and the only thing she could do 
was to sell the ground. This she did, and the money 
was put in an institution called " The Widows' 
Home, or Old Ladies* Shelter," and by so doing she 
secured a claim on it for maintenance the remainder 
of her life. 

At this providing for herself against want and 
destitution, her remaining child became incensed, 
abused her, said she would have nothing more to do 
with her; and she, too, very soon left, and went south, 
where she remained until death. The grandchild 
was the last remaining by her ; soon the husband, 
considering he could do better elsewhere, took his 
wife and child south. And thus the old lady was 
left entirely alone. 

Not many years after this last departure an 
accident befell her ; she was thrown from the plat- 
form of a street-car and badly hurt, from the effects 
of which she died, with no member of her family 
near to care for or see her buried. 

Here we will let her rest for a time, and follow 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 115 

the closing years of her eldest child, Ann, as she 
will be the most observable character in the future 
life. 

This woman, after her return from Virginia, 
married again, and had one child. Thus she had one 
child by each of her three husbands. After several 
years, bhe left this third husband and went with her 
son, a young man, to a southern State. This son 
died at about the age of thirty years, preceding his 
mother to spirit-life about eighteen years. After 
this death she became a Methodist, and earnestly 
subjected herself to all the regulations and disci- 
pline of that sect, prayer-meeting and psalm-sing- 
ing forming her principal occupation. Her sight 
had always been bad from a malady in infancy that 
injured the eyes, and as she advanced in years, it 
grew worse. She became almost blind, yet she 
could read very large print. Finally, with age, she 
lost her sight entirely, so that she was obliged to be 
led by a child when she went to church. She passed 
her time principally in singing and praying, and was 
looked upon as a very earnest Christian by the 
church-members. She lived thirty years after her 
mother had passed away, and reached an age exceed- 
ing that of her mother ten years, when she died. 

The object of these pages is to illustrate spiritism, 
and this cannot be well understood without the 
external, which precedes the spirit-life and has a 
reflex action to that sphere ; hence these external 
transactions should be known in order to understand- 
ingly follow the spirit. In doing this, it will be 
shown that there is not a transaction in earth- life 



116 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

that has not to be accounted for, and bears its results 
in the world beyond. 

The sequel to all this history and these parties in 
spirit-life I will now give in a narration of one of the 
most extraordinary manifestations that has ever been 
givesi to a being on earth. Every incident associated 
with them was brought to light in assemblies of 
spirits, probed, and so laid open that nothing remained 
concealed. I state this that the reader may observe 
how far-reaching and penetrating spiritism may be. 

I have heretofore in these pages mentioned a good 
trance-medium — "Tom," who favored me with 
sittings. 

In the autumn of 1868, one of these seances was 
held in my house, myself being alone with the 
medium, when some strange spirit talked through 
him in a most peculiar manner. He said he was 
related to me, and went on to picture his forlorn 
condition, demented in a foreign land, and cared for 
in a charitable institution, — so far away from friends 
and family that no tidings could reach them to tell 
of his condition ; of his many, very many years of 
incoherent, melancholy existence, and of his dying 
in old age without its being known who he was. 
His manner of telling it was with much sadness. 
To this I replied : 

"I have no such relative who passed through 
that condition, and you must be mistaken in the 
person." He said : 

" You may not think so, yet I am an ancestor of 
yours ; I feel it myself." 

Nothing more was said between us. 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 117 

I never was ready to take all that spirits said, with- 
out some evidence of the truth, so this passed out 
of my memory as one of those vagaries of rambling 
spirits who come into the elements of mediums, and 
I never afterward gave it a thought. In fact, I 
should have forgotten it entirely, had it not been 
recalled many years after. 

This closes the external part of this history ; and 
now we are to enter the spirit conditions. I will 
speak as though telling of people in this life, yet 
the reader will understand they are all spirits with 
whom we have to do, excepting myself. 

When the head of the family, Elizabeth Hull, en- 
tered spirit-life, she was immediately told by the 
celestial voice that her husband was yet on earth, 
and how he was situated. Her son was yet living. 
The man who left her the child to care for, and had 
forgotten it, was yet living. She had preceded them 
all to spirit-life. 

Five or six years later her husband died in Eng- 
land. Immediately she took charge of him in spirit; 
for what purpose will be seen. One after another 
they all passed over to the other shore. They had 
never, as friends or relatives, found each other, nor 
met, excepting as it is here mentioned. 

In 1875 all this family of spirits externalized — 
as they called it — through and by me. The occa- 
sion of Elizabeth Hull's first coming into my pres- 
ence was at the earnest call of the grandchild she 
had raised, who had been dead nearly three years. 
This call was most peculiar. It seems that the soul 
enters within itself, to the exclusion of all else, with 



118 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

a retroactive will of some former state. This spirit, 
Lucy, was to me the most noticeable example of this 
action, as she entered this state several times when 
she desired, and called for those she had not found. 
In fact, she seemed to be the resurrectionist, to bring 
the absent ones to her, and call up all this family. 

I will here digress to say, that twice in this way 
she called for her infant children who died forty years 
before. But no response came, nor have they been 
heard from to this time. When these several adults 
came to her call so readily, what conclusions do the 
non-discovery of the infants suggest? The fact is 
its own reply. When the grandmother came, she 
addressed her as a child, while the childish manner 
continued for a time. This, then, was the manner of 
their meeting. The old lady said she knew of her 
death when it occurred, but did not seek her, wait- 
ing until she could receive her, or desired to do so. 

From time to time the old lady called, and was 
quite pleasant ; but I observed she never staid long, 
seemed desirous to leave, and spoke of having the 
care of some one who required her time. After sev- 
eral calls, she came one day with her charge, while 
most of these parties were present. 

There entered my door an old man, bent forward, 
leaning on a stick with both hands. He looked at 
me a moment and said, " I have been in your pres- 
ence before." " How ? where ? when ? " I asked. 
Then he related the incident of talking through a 
young man to me. This did not convince me of 
his identity, and I wanted something more definite. 
Then he went on to describe the peculiar pictures 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 119 

and surroundings of the room in which the seance 
was held. Even then, I thought he might take 
these details from my thoughts — pictures of my 
memory. Seeing that I was incredulous, he gave a 
detail of incidents occurring in the house after the 
seance closed. These transactions I had not placed 
at that special time, but knew they occurred about 
that date, and he gave such a minute relation of 
them, in such a way, I could not question the fact 
that he must have been present. 

Here was a train of incidents brought to my recol- 
lection that I never expected to hear spoken of. 
The occasion of this couple's calling as they did, was 
the presence of their long-absent son. Lucy had 
sent out her call to him, and he came. Then his 
parents came to hear his statement. He had no 
plea to make for his desertion of his mother, so he 
only gave an account of his subsequent life after 
leaving her. He had gone out of all reach of in- 
telligence ; his destination was Valparaiso, Chili. 
There he remained, took a wife, had children, 
learned to talk Spanish fluently, and died some 
years before this occasion, not a very old man. 

He appeared to be of an active, quick, intelligent 
mind, but not spiritually advanced ; hence was on 
the earth-plane. He made quite an extended visit, 
it being of a day or more. When he left, I heard 
no more from him until the close. 

The old man only remained while this account 
was being given, and came not again before me for 
some months. As the old lady came frequently, and 
would remain, enjoying the manifestations, he would 



120 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

call for her as though in need of her presence. As 
this was often repeated, and she would say, ■'•* I must 
go ; William is so dependent I cannot leave him long," 
it was asked why she was so bound to attend on him ? 
She replied, " He is so helpless that I feel as though 
I must give him all my attention ;" intimating that 
he was in his dotage. 

As he has no further prominent notice in this rela- 
tion, perhaps it will be as well to anticipate the final 
disclosures concerning him. He had intentionally 
deserted his wife and children, gone to England, — 
like most men he took a woman to live with, — and 
engaged for several years in some occupation with 
ships. While thus employed, an accident befell him. 
He was struck on the head by a ship's spar, made 
senseless, and so injured that he never fully recov- 
ered his mentality, but remained imbecile and in 
childish dotage the remainder of his days on earth. 
He was cared for by some institution or parties, and 
lived to old age. When he died, his wife, who had 
preceded him to spirit, took charge of him. The 
condition of imbecility had been so prolonged that 
it became his normal state, from which he did not 
recover upon entering spirit-life. Although he had 
a consciousness of the reality and true basis of things, 
yet there was no recuperation ; he was constantly 
made to feel that his wife's presence was an indis- 
pensable necessity to his existence. Thus he sat 
constantly to look at her motions. When she was 
not by him, he whined like a child for its parent. In 
these thirty-five years he had been in spirit, he had 
not made an advance move. In this way he was 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 121 

made to feel his utter helplessness, and dependence 
on her. This was part of his punishment, and the 
retributive justice meted out to him. It was, how- 
ever, only the first installment ; others followed. 

Soon after, the youngest daughter externalized, 
and had an explanation and reconciliation with her 
mother and friends. The eldest daughter remained 
to be heard from. 

Some months had passed since these last-related 
transactions concerning this family occurred, and I 
heard nothing from them. Consequently my atten- 
tion was not engaged with them at the time of which 
I am about to speak. For a couple of days, when at 
meals, in eating, some affection troubled my jaw, and 
seemed to be so persistently growing that I said to a 
spirit-friend who was by me : " Some trouble seems 
to be in my jaw. Will you look as I eat, and see 
what it is ? " As soon as I said this, a stranger was 
perceived to be present, entering my elements, and 
making his physical condition felt ; for he imme- 
diately announced his name. This was the opening 
introduction to surprises in new and strange phases 
of spirit-life. It was soon perceived he was not 
alone, as he was conferring with some associate, or 
companion, in an undertone. Their conversation 
concerned the medium, and their object was to 
inspect her capabilities and see who it was. These 
spirits were moving very slowly, as though feeling 
their way. After a time he announced who was in 
company with him. It was his mother, Ann, the 
eldest child of the couple, who had not heretofore 
been heard from. 



122 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

When I was told who it was, I knew what was to 
follow: a raking over of old scores, like the opening 
of a boil that it might be cleansed. For various good 
reasons I felt indignant at what I thought likely to 
be the proceedings and display of evil doings. So I 
set up rny will, and said : " If my presence is to be 
a court of justice, I will have my say, and all must 
be excluded but the parties concerned." To this 
proposition of mine they objected. " Well," I said, 
" the spirits have had their way, now I'll have mine, 
and the proceedings shall not go on until conditions 
suit me. They will wait my time, at least." 

So I went out and busied myself about other 
matters. 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 123 



Section XI. 

THE CONTINUED SHOWING OF RETRIBUTIVE 
JUSTICE. — THE ASSEMBLED COURT; JUDG- 
MENT AND SENTENCE. 

After I had retired at night, the spirit Ann be- 
gan whispering to me, saying, She would be easy ; 
she would wait my time with pleasure ; she liked 
me and would stay by me. 

Slowly the development followed. She showed 
a singular want of spirit-force or understanding, and 
often said she could not see ; that she had not seen 
or known anything in spirit-life. This quite sur- 
prised me, as she had been in spirit twelve years. 
Cenis being present, as he always was on unusual 
occasions, I asked him how this could be — if it were 
possible the blindness she had on earth accompanied 
and affected her in spirit-life. Further, why was 
she so obtuse ? He replied : 

"No; it is not that. She is a dark spirit." 

" Dark ! Do you mean to say it is blind darkness 
of spirit that prevents her from seeing or understand- 
ing things in spirit-life?" 

" Yes, I do. There are such dark spirits, and she 
is of that class," he replied. " We will see how she 
comes out." 

One and another were informed of her presence, 
and came in, her mother and sister included. 



124 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

This woman in spirit could not hear one word 
that was said by these other spirits, only as it passed 
through me. She was as deaf as she was blind to all 
these parties. She repeated to me in the most pitiful 
manner her total want of sight, and said that if God 
would only permit her to retake form on earth, she 
would do her duty, take the best care of children, 
and fill all her obligations to their full requirement. 
In fact, she seemed to sense that she could rehabit 
form and be again on earth, do better than she had 
done, and in this wa}^ retrieve herself. 

To Cenis I applied for more light. I wanted to 
know if it were possible for one of such advanced 
age to re-incarnate ? Pie replied : 

"I do not think it is." 

As this person was very slow in her movements, 
and did not enter into communion with those pres- 
ent, her son, who was her escort, externalized, and 
entered into the spirit of reunion with these rela- 
tives. 

This young man had the great misfortune, in boy- 
hood, to have a severe fall, by which his jaw was 
broken. As it was not properly attended to, it grew 
one-sided, and eating was a painful operation. The 
misfortune was, probably, the ultimate cause of his 
early death with consumption. It was this defec- 
tive reminder of his conditions he had conveyed to 
the sensation of my organism for several succeeding 
meals. When he plainly showed himself, a stranger 
remarked, " What a terrible misfortune you had in 
the face ! " He replied, " Yes ; it was torture 
always for me to eat." 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 125 

This spirit had no accountability to render to the 
parties present, nor rectification to make, so he 
entered into the spirit of the circle and took his 
place with those composing it. He gave a state- 
ment of his association with his mother. When 
he found her in spirit and in need of help, he rallied 
to her assistance, and led and aided her in finding 
what she sought. I understood this to be a benefi- 
cent act, not a compulsory one. He represented 
that they had been told she should come, or make 
her first step of advance, through one of her descend- 
ants, and they had looked entirely in another direc- 
tion for it ; consequently, their approach to me was 
unexpected. Further, he represented her state as 
fearfully wearing and tiresome; — that she was 
picking, picking at every one she could approach, 
to see if an impression could be made, or if it were 
the one she was in search of. He had all the obser- 
vation to make, and transmitted to her all he could 
ascertain. Such appears to have been the course 
of procedure for several years. 

Gradually, she was developed to hear and under- 
stand the expressions of the relatives present. With 
the superior force of her mother, who entered into 
the spirit of relating incidents of the past associated 
w r ith her, she would imbibe the idea and study out 
her own history. In this way, by piecemeal and in 
detail, it was completed in substance as follows : — 
She had never been, according to legal ceremony, 
married to the man who was responsible for leaving 
the infant girl to the grandmother. In this she had 
seriously imposed on and deceived her mother. 



126 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

When they left they went to Virginia. There the 
man deserted her, and she heard no more from him. 
After a while she consorted with the father of the 
boy, but had no legal binding claim on him. A few 
years later she returned to her native place, New 
York, and was married. This husband she left, and 
him she was now desirous to find or to hear from. 
Such is a brief account, and all that is necessary to 
give, bearing a relation with what has been detailed 
in preceding pages. 

A clear explanation and understanding was arrived 
at by all parties on the points to be cleared up. But 
this woman remained m total blindness. On one 
occasion her mother said to her, " Well, Ann, I told 
you, when last I forbade you my presence, that you 
should not look on my face again ; but I would let 
you see me now, if you could. When you can look 
on my face, you shall do so." 

When all this had passed, and all had been 
explained to the relatives, this dark spirit took 
another course to find some consolation from a 
higher source. She appealed to her God of theo- 
logical ideas for light, and looked to him to give 
her some reprieve. I endeavored to convey to her 
that she would gradually and slowly gain spirit- 
sight. Cenis told her of these conditions of a 
gradual development of progress. Immediately she 
took him to be God's vicegerent, or the angel Gabriel. 
She began to pray him to conve} r her message to 
God, and to tell him of her penitence and prom- 
ise of future good conduct; frequently repeating 
passages of scripture, and praying in the name of 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 127 

Jesus Christ, her savior. The more we tried to 
give her an idea of truth, the deeper she sank in 
Methodist theology and Jesus-Christ ideas. At 
this, Cenis impulsively and very earnestly said to 
me: ' 4 If she is going into that Bible and Jesus- 
Christ business, you must handle her, Mrs. K. ; I 
cannot do it. I never can manage that class of 
people : they are the stupidest of all the human 
family." Then, turning to the others present, 
most of whom were, or had been, church-members, 
he said : " How such an abomination of absurdities 
could ever have been adopted by any class of people, 
I cannot understand. I have always thought they 
had not the common sense of the Indian." 

These remarks were so earnestly and forcibly 
spoken, that every one felt the ludicrous position, 
and grandmother Elizabeth replied, " Well, it does 
seem very ridiculous when one sees how it is, and 
when all its fallacy is found out." 

While I was trying to inform Ann that sight 
would gradually come to her, a superior message, 
like electric writing from some superior source, came 
to her hand. " There," said Cenis to her, " you have 
a message in your hand. Read it." Then Ann 
began to spell it out. It was short, and informed 
her that it was a token she should have sicjht at a 
stated time not very distant. Then the celestial 
voice was heard to say, " You have been an unduti- 
ful, thankless child, and failed in all your natural 
obligations ; hence your darkness." 

Upon this, Ann began to pray,' asking if God 
would give her sight by the time she was one 



128 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

hundred years old. If so, she could wait with 
cheerfulness. This was subjecting herself to twelve 
years of probation. We could not, however, bring 
her out of her old way of thinking, nor make any 
impression upon her mind contrary to preconceived 
ideas of church-theology; and in reply to what we 
said she would repeat those dogmas. This quite 
discouraged us in our efforts to help her, and so we 
gave up in despair. 

Here was the example of one, who. nearly all her 
life, from her devilish disposition, had been the terror 
of those with whom she was connected, failed to do 
right by any one, and never did a beneficent act; 
yet, in the decline of life, for company and enter- 
tainment, went to church and became possessed, to 
the full extent, with the spirit of Methodism as a 
means of salvation and redemption, through the 
blood of Jesus Christ ; and this very faith and 
engrossing idea formed the impervious helmet that 
encased her soul from any penetrating light or even 
an understanding of true spirit-conditions. Thus, 
her religious faith acted as a punishment to keep her 
in bondage. Such an exhibition of burlesque on 
the Christian faiths could hardly have been made 
more ludicrous or transparent. 

There are many of these dark, encased souls 
made so by these very same teachings and confident 
reliance upon mere dogmas for their future happi- 
ness. As I have had a close acquaintance with 
many of the rigid votaries, both Protestant and 
Catholic, I know what they think of it on the other 
side of life. They very soon become disgusted 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 129 

and feel ashamed of the belief they adopted on earth. 
Some even scornfully listen to the name of Jesus 
Christ, while others feel bitter that they ever were 
associated with such dogmatic faiths. 

I do here assert that in spirit-spheres there is no 
sympathy, no accord, no respect for the Christian 
church or its theology, and that all its tendencies are 
to befog, embarrass, and darken the human soul in a 
future state. There. is not one redeeming teaching 
associated with the Church, unless it be that in the 
Catholic there may be found some beneficent ideas. 
It not only embarrasses future progress, but it is as 
a leech on the material welfare of its members, in 
taxing them for the support of churches and a lazy 
priesthood ; while, at the same time, the ministry 
preach what they have no knowledge of, — a redemp- 
tion by a vicarious atonement, — and fail in every 
sense to make known the true basis of man's salva- 
tion. They likewise deter listeners from indepen- 
dent research, and the ignorant are held in bondage 
by creeds. When these obscure, befogged souls en- 
ter spirit-life, they are more like devils than saints, 
for they find nothing they had been led to expect. 
On the contrary, they find every phase of embar- 
rassment in progress, while many become helpless, 
torpid, or wholly in the dark, and in time find their 
church and faith have wrought out for them a pun- 
ishment rather than a reward, and proved less a 
blessing than a curse. It must be one of those in- 
scrutable ways of Omnipotence that has permit- 
ted priestly creeds and churches to hold sway over 
humanity, else the spirit-host would long since have 
9 



130 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

combined, and, by its united powers, hurled it into 
chaos. If its votaries could but see its action on earth 
and its action in spirit as I have seen it, the church 
would be shunned with scorn as a monster that can 
only do one deadly injury. I cannot here give space 
to show why the Christian theology is such a mill- 
stone about the neck of its victim. The pages that 
follow will in some measure do this. 

After this circle dispersed, I heard no more from 
these parties for some four or five months. At the 
expiration of that time, spirits were gathering at my 
home for a development. As the development pro- 
gressed, there came among us some high and bright 
lights of the superior spheres, and the proceedings 
merged into a court of justice ; to which messages, 
instruction, and light from celestial realms, of the 
most impressive and awe-inspiring character, were 
transmitted. To attempt to relate the incidents the 
power revealed to this august assembly, would not 
convey an estimate of the reality. The exposures 
it brought out were most fearful. Its effect on indi- 
viduals was terrific. The retribution meted was 
amazing. In fact, it was the most forcible exhibi- 
tion of spirit-conditions that I have witnessed. 

In the course of this gathering there came the 
head of this family, Elizabeth Hull. She brought 
her husband with her; and the other members of 
her family, one after the other, came also. She was 
led to give a detailed account of her experience on 
earth and in spirit. She said : 

" When I found that my husband was yet on earth, 
and that he had purposely deserted me, I could have 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 131 

cursed God to his face, from the depths of ray soul, 
that he had permitted my life to be so bitter with 
trials, from no cause or act of mine. Immediately 
I was filled with a disgust of all earthly things, and 
determined to shun all observation, interest, or ap- 
proach to earthly elements or their associations ; and 
this determination I maintained forty years, never 
looking to find those who had died, until my grand- 
child so earnestly called me." 

From this statement I learned why she was so rest- 
less when coming before me : she was fearful of being 
drawn too near earthly things. Her husband was 
the exception, as she had taken charge of him when 
he died. She had given her undivided attention to 
this helpless dotard for thirty-five years. She did 
not fail to picture his meanness in the manner he 
left her, and averred that he should have informed 
her of his intention ; then she would have known 
what to depend upon — perhaps married again. 

As her history was peculiarly sad, the whole circle 
could feel it, and remarked that it was strangely 
melancholy. Then I asked her, " What good resulted 
from it? where was the silver lining? what purifying 
to the soul by these unusual hardships and trials ? " 
" None," she quickly replied ; " it embittered my 
memory of the life on earth, that I could never re- 
call with pleasure, while I reflected on it ever after- 
ward with pain. It was a cheerless desolation that 
will ever bear its memory of lost advantages I should 
have had in life." Such was her version of life's ex- 
periences and its rewards for sorrow and trials. 

Further developments will show the fallacy of such 



132 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

self-contradictory and deceptive theories as, " What- 
ever is, is right ; " " There is no cloud without its 
silver lining;" "Suffering and tribulation are for 
the good and purification of the soul ; " "Evil ulti- 
inates in good," &c. 

Her family had all come into this assembly ; but 
nothing was said by any one of them. Elizabeth 
then addressed her husband, and said : " William, 
3^ou may go. I do not want you by me any more. 
I now relinquish all care of you. There are your 
un dutiful, thankless children. Go with them. Lead 
them out of darkness into light. Bring them up. 
I am done with you, and take Lucy for my com- 
panion." 

Such, then, was the disposal of this man. He had 
been thirty-five years a helpless dotard, dependent 
on her continual presence ; while her care of him 
was not one of love, but of mercy or punishment, 
that he should feel his weakness. Now he was re- 
leased, to begin his work among the lowest class of 
benighted souls and his children whom he had failed 
to care for. He spoke not one word in reply, but 
went as though it was something expected; while 
she took the grandchild she had reared, as a more 
congenial companion. 

As Elizabeth was the only one of them permitted 
to talk in this assembled court, nothing was said by 
the others. Neither do I know anything of them 
since that time. Hence, how they progress or de- 
velop, I am not as yet informed. 

The whole history furnishes a revelation of spirit- 
conditions, phases, retributive justice, and an exhibit 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, 133 

of some omnipotent, overruling power associated 
with the soul, that humanity should be informed of. 
And it teaches that spiritualists and others should 
ponder these truths before preaching optimism as 
applied to the doings of humanity, and giving the 
general idea that summer lands, heavenly homes, and 
perpetual bliss, are indiscriminately the immediate 
portion of all. 

As before said, this assembly proved to be a high 
court of justice to show right and wrong. Other 
persons, not known to this family, were brought to 
exposure and judgment iu the most startling man- 
ner, and in a way that made a most intense impres- 
sion on all present. 

Again the external must be introduced, in order 
to understandingly explain the spiritual. 

In the first decade of 1800 there lived in Penn- 
sylvania a couple. Soon after the birth of their last 
child, a son, the father died by drowning, and the 
mother was left alone to rear her two children. The 
boy, as he grew up, was exceedingly wild and trouble- 
some. However, he did one good act for himself; 
for, in his teens, he apprenticed himself to learn the 
trade of machinist and engineer, applied himself 
steadily to his work, and became a good mechanic. 
When he was twenty-one he left home, and his 
mother never saw him afterward. 

Having cut loose from obligations to his mother, 
he engaged in the occupation of running and man- 
aging steamboats. His morals and habits were the 
most reckless and abandoned, although he was not 
addicted to drunkenness. His character was sensual 



134 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

to excess. He consorted with fast women and gam- 
blers, and in all the most lecherous indulgences he 
had no equal. Thus he spent twelve years in 
licentious revels. Then he met a young girl whose 
grace of form and beauty arrested his attention, and 
he thought he would marry. 

Of his habits and character she knew nothing. 
She onl}- knew that he was in good business, and 
temperate, and these recommended him. As great 
a contrast existed between them as between heat and 
cold. The girl's age was just one half of his. She 
was as pure as an angel, and as innocent as a babe 
of all lasciviousness. Her habits were pious, her 
nature aspiration al and inspirational, with every 
quality calculated to make a practical helpmate and 
a devoted wife. 

He very soon manifested a domineering spirit ac- 
companied by jealousy. They had lived not more 
than a year together when he began to neglect her, 
and to spend his leisure time with companions of his 
own habits; and became so arbitrary and overbearing 
that she was not allowed to look or even to think with- 
out restriction or being dictated to by him. With no 
kindness, thought, or attention bestowed on her, this 
sensitive soul soon shrank within herself, and all con- 
fidence and sympathy ceased between herself and hus- 
band. After a time, she was drawn from him, and 
they lived more like strangers than friends. 

This man's nature was selfish, self-willed, positive, 
overbearing, and relentless to all and everything he 
dealt with. He had no sympathy or benevolence — 
probably never in his life did a beneficent act. His 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 135 

theology was atheistic and infidel. " Life now is all 
I have to care for ; the world is to please me ; naught 
else do I care to know," — this was the creed he 
adopted and lived by. Yet he had mind, intelli- 
gence, and some research, and passed as quite a re- 
spectable man and good citizen. 

Such a nature allied to the exact opposite would 
soon crush the heart of a sensitive. And so it did. 
His wife soon became so mentally oppressed that 
nervous derangement made a permanent impression 
on her health. 

Fortune had favored him in more waj^s than one ; 
yet he failed to take advantage of her favors, or to 
improve his opportunities. When he had so man- 
aged his affairs as to become embarrassed, he dis- 
posed of himself, and by his death left a young 
family, wholly unprovided for, to flounder about in 
the difficulties he had created. 

Now he is in spirit. What of him? We will see. 

How long he remained dormant T cannot now say, 
but his movements were for a long time hardly per- 
ceptible. In fifteen years he had not moved from 
the location where he was buried. His intimate 
friend has said, " He would occasionally find me ; 
but I could not account for his want of animation 
and his oppressive unhappiness." Latterly, he him- 
self stated that he only emerged from his grave to 
return to it for unconsciousness. He knew nothing 
of any transactions relating to his affairs or his fam- 
ily. And I am satisfied, by testing this statement, 
that he was totally ignorant in regard to them. So 
much was he restrained from approaching them, that, 



136 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

when his son came to the vicinity where he was 
then abiding, he was forbidden to remain, or to ap- 
proach anywhere near the location the son might 
be in. 

His mother had found him, and seems to have in- 
formed him that he should make amends to his wife, 
for it was only by doing so he could rise from his 
unhappy condition which was the mountain which 
would overshadow him and obstruct his progress ; 
and that he would crawl until he could stand up- 
right and uncondemned before her. Although he 
had been sometimes present with others, little ad- 
vance was made. 

Now we have reached the occasion which induced 
this statement, the recording of the incidents which 
took place in this assembly of spirits, before whom 
these parties were exposed, all parties concerned and 
interested being present. The circle seemed filled 
with celestial force, and under its influence, this 
man, in the course of proceedings, confessed he had 
been not only untrue, but repeatedly guilty of the 
heinous crime of incest with his wife's nearest rela- 
tive, the details being given. When this was fully 
developed before this august assembly, it was shaken 
as by an earthquake. The force thrown into it, as 
from superior spheres, was tremendous. Flash after 
flash of light disclosed every secret, while, for my- 
self, my soul was shaken with a power that no lan- 
guage can describe. If such expresses the sense of 
feeling in spirit-spheres, then there is nothing on 
earth that approaches it in susceptibility. When 
the sensations that filled this gathering had sub- 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 137 

sided, this man implored that he might be annihi- 
lated, or that he might be allowed to rest and retake 
earthly form. 

To this the celestial voice was heard to reply : " It 
cannot be done. You came to years of maturity ; 
you had mind, intelligence, and judgment; you 
threw away your opportunities and advantages: the 
consequences are your own, and you must endure 
them." 

Yet he still desired he might be allowed to rest. 

To this the same voice replied : " If you so much 
desire it, you may rest the remainder of your wife's 
stay on the earth." 

At this his mother, who was present, implored 
him not to think of such a thing; to keep himself up, 
and to work for his own advancement. He replied : 
" I cannot bear my presence ; let me forget my- 
self for a time. I must stop." And into rest for a 
time he went. His mother was much pained at this, 
and said : 

"I have worked to bring him out. I knew he 
had a great accountability to render, and now I 
tremble to think of his future. His punishment 
will be terrible." 

I then asked her : " What benefit will this resting 
be to him ? What good results from this temporary 
rest?" 

" None," she replied. "It is a retrograde move- 
ment. He will only revive in the same condition 
with less strength." 

In this way this man absolutely took on a state of 
unconsciousness, probably to remain so for many 



138 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

years; and it will be thirty or forty years after 
his death when he commences his labor of working 
out his advancement to a higher state. In the inter- 
vening time he will be in total ignorance concern- 
ing the things of earth and those he left thereon. 

Such is retributive justice. Such is man's accounta- 
bility for transgression. 

How different this showing is from the teaching 
of all theological sects ! How different it is from 
that of some classes of spiritualists who take it upon 
themselves to promulgate theories in regard to 
supernal life, when they are totally ignorant of these 
conditions! Where is the doctrine sustained that 
man is not accountable for acting out the predisposi- 
tions of his idiosyncrasy? Where is the doctrine 
sustained that there is no merit in one who is benefi- 
cently disposed because it is his disposition, more 
than there is in one more selfish, for each only acts 
out his nature ? This was once told me by a teacher 
of spiritual things. Where is shown the truth of 
the doctrine that all evil is but undeveloped good ? 
Where is it seen that whatever is, is right? 

If these theories, or any one of them, had a basis 
of truth, so far as they apply to the human family, 
what would be the sequence ? It would be one of 
the most unjust in existence. The following would 
be the rule of its operation : — All are of the same 
origin ; the same constituent principle, soul, is the 
being of each one ; and consider that one who is 
quiet, kind, or perhaps superior, shall be made to 
suffer great sorrows and tribulations, perhaps the 
whole life on earth blasted as by a sirocco, the 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 139 

effects of which will extend long into the hereafter ; 
and this imposed on him by some other person 
whose idiosyncras}^ led him to do so. In this way 
the one must suffer because the other is evil-disposed. 
Then, if it happens to be a worthy person who is 
the victim, his soul wants this experience to purify 
it, to crush out his meekness, to make him see his 
want of force ; while the one who is the cause of 
this experience is only doing God's will. He is not 
responsible, because it is his nature, his idiosyncras}^. 
Perhaps he is only instigated by some disembodied 
mind that God permits to work in this way for the 
one that suffers ; while the oppressor is not supposed 
to be accountable ; hence he has the best of this 
life on earth, and has just as good prospects for the 
spirit-side, and the same results and conditions are 
common to both. The " summer land " it is for one 
and all ; for is not all " evil undeveloped good," 
and " whatever is, is right " ? Such is the logic, in 
substance, of these very cream-like spiritualistic the- 
ories, and the rule of their operation. 

It will be remembered that it is stated, on a 
preceding page, that all spiritualists do not hold the 
same theories. 

In contrast with these is the Christian theological 
doctrine, that, no matter how heinous a sinner one 
has been, he may repent, join some church, pray, and 
believe the blood of Christ has washed him white, 
and thus be redeemed and fitted for heaven. It 
matters not what the results of their doings may be 
to their victims, they are of no further consequence 
in this life or the next. 



140 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

This is not an extreme, nor an exaggerated state- 
ment of either side, as every one must admit who 
knows anything of the doctrines. 

What, then, it may be well to know, is the conse- 
quence of transgression, or sin against others ? Is it 
pardonable ? No. No offense that encroaches on 
another's rights of happiness is pardonable. Noth- 
ing but atonement, the making of reparation, will 
mitigate the consequence of such transgression. 
The atonement must come by beneficent works, 
self-abnegation, and labor for the welfare of others, 
— even to work for the humblest creatures. The 
example is given in the old man who was helpless 
until he descended to the lowest grade, to work for 
the alleviation of dark spirits, the very lowest there 
are. 

I would not have the reader understand this is 
exclusively reserved for spirit-spheres ; humanity 
can be benefited on earth, and many persons may 
counterbalance the evil they have with some good 
on earth. 

A very striking example of this I know of, in a 
person I was well acquainted with, and whose whole 
career in life has been shown ine from the spirit-side. 
She was a person of erratic character, violent pas- 
sions, and many irregularities, according to the 
judgment of the world, but her acts mostly affected 
herself. Yet she was quite benevolent, and made 
great personal exertion in laboring for the care 
and welfare of a family of children, being of great 
benefit to them. She made no advance in spirit for 
a time. She discovered she would make no progress 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 141 

until her record was examined and judged, — not 
a very desirable entertainment either. In the course 
of such an examination, it would recur to her how' 
low she might have been, and she would say : 
" Those blessed children, they have been my salva- 
tion. Where would I have been without them ? 
They have given me all the advantages I have." 
This she several times repeated, declaring that the 
children she had cared for were the means of her 
advancement. So I know that her beneficence to 
others favored her, for, after she became equipoised, 
and started to advance, she made rapid progress, 
more so than any other spirit whom it has been my 
privilege to know. 

I have seen a practical illustration of this, one 
that every reader will understand. As the parties 
were so dissimilar in their action, and as it is most 
important that all should know what constitutes the 
law of standing and advancement in superior spheres, 
I give it here as an illustration. 

All readers know who Theodore Parker was. 
Further, that he was a Protestant divine, a scholar 
and linguist, liberal and humanitarian in all his 
teachings. He died in Italy, the 10th of Ma}% 
1860. Most spiritualists suppose him very advanced 
in power of spirit, and in superior things. 

I am now only to show what constitutes merit. 

About the same time he died, there passed to 
spirit-life a nun. This woman was Superior of a 
convent many years, an institution that sheltered 
nearly three hundred souls all the time. Every 
movement she dictated. The whole system and 



142 TEE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

management she supervised. She constituted the 
whole board of officers ; in fact, she was general- 
issimo of the inside and out ; consequently her life 
was a very busy one, and devoted to the comfort and 
benefit of others, as she had no compensation other 
than the satisfaction derived from well-doing. It 
would be supposed that the mental biases to her 
Church would cloud her advancement; however, 
this was not so, as she was purely spiritual. 

This nun, as I happen to know by good evidence, 
much surpassed Parker in power of spirit, that is, in 
the innermost of superior spirit-conditions, the enter- 
ing into the angelic states. Why so ? it may be asked. 
Because her whole life had been a practical humani- 
tarian industry, dedicated to the welfare of others ; 
at the same time her nature was spiritual. Her 
earth-work was a practical execution of beneficence. 
Parker may have preached the same ; but it is works 
that tell. From this example it can be judged what 
constitutes merit. A brilliant education does not 
always qualify one for high rank in spirit-spheres. 

Perhaps there are no ideas that humanity hold an 
opinion of, that are so widely at variance with the 
true facts, as that of evil, or what is the sin 
deserving of the greatest condemnation. It is 
generally considered that suicide and murder are 
the greatest of all offenses against God. This is 
borrowed from the idea that man is made by some 
god, and that he is a vassal only at that god's com- 
mand. The opposite of this is the truth. The soul 
in man is its own creator, the only god it is subject 
to. It follows as a natural sequence that this is the 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 143 

only god to offend ; hence, it is far from the truth 
that those are the greatest sins man may commit. 

Whom does the suicide offend ? No one but him- 
self. If a person chooses to pluck out one eye and 
be half blind, he is the greatest sufferer. If he 
takes off one hand, it is to his own inconvenience. 
Any irregularity that a mortal is guilty of, entails 
its own penalty on himself. There is no superior 
power in the universe that will call him to an 
account for it ; hence, the suicide has only injured 
himself by dwarfing his opportunities. 

I have been in rapport with three suicides, and I 
could not perceive that the act they had committed 
very much affected them, further than to arrest their 
advancement, and oblige them to be closely allied 
to earthly conditions. Further, it is not known 
what a state of desperation a person may be in when 
he takes his life. Again, there are very many who 
are suicides by slow processes. Intemperance pro- 
duces the largest number. That not only kills the 
mind and body on earth, but stops its movements in 
the hereafter. There are numerous other ways in 
which persons are the cause of shortening their 
lives. 

The taking of the life of another would appear to 
be a very heinous offense against one's fellow-man. 
How far one is held to atone for it I do not know, 
as I never had one near me that took the life of 
another. There are usually, however, other irregu- 
larities and bad conditions accompanying this act 
that would cause its perpetrator to become associated 
with a low, dark class of spirits. 



144 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

What, then, is the greatest sin, or transgression 
for which man is held accountable ? 

It is that against his fellow-man, — the injury 
caused to others. It is the trampling on the rights 
of another soul, — the shadowing and obstructing 
the happiness and progress of others. This is the 
God that man offends. This is the God that will 
call him to judgment — the God to whom he must 
atone. Why is this so ? 

Because all soul is a universal principle of deity — 
links in one continuous chain. Each entity of that 
principle has its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit 
of happiness and progress, without infringing on 
that of another, or being debarred of the same by 
another. Hence, if one's soul is shadowed and 
defrauded of this right, it is a transgression against 
the divine principle in man — the only god that can 
feel the offense. From this it follows, that to cause 
sorrow and injury to a fellow-man, is the greatest 
transgression man is held accountable for. 

This being the rule by which to judge of trans- 
gression, the opposite condition, how to serve God 
best, -would be in serving mankind. Hence, good 
practiced for humanity, "beneficence to others, consti- 
tute the true service rendered to God. 

It must follow, then, that those who have been the 
most humanitarian, those who have done the most 
to ameliorate the condition of their fellow-men, will 
be judged worthy of happiness and honor. I hesi- 
tate not in affirming that this is the inflexible law 
by which man is to be judged ; and those who will 



LAW OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 145 

so understand it can estimate in this life what 
another's position is likely to be in # the next. 

This true golden rule was given to the world 
twenty-five hundred years ago by Confucius. "Do 
not unto others what you would not have them do 
unto you." 

Jesus, the Christ, repeated it in this form : " Do 
unto others as you would have others do unto you." 

No higher or greater rule could be given. It 
constitutes the whole law of duty to God. 

Jesus has further stated the true law of judgment 
as given in the parable of the last judgment. "And 
the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I 
say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one 
of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
unto me." While to those who are condemned for 
not doing, he said : " Verily I say unto you, inasmuch 
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it 
not to me." 

In Proverbs xiv. 31, it is said : " He that oppress- 
eth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that 
honoreth him hath mercy on the poor." 

No teachings can be given to the world higher than 
these ; no spiritualistic ethics can overreach them. 
They include the whole law that should govern man's 
acts. Your mental and intellectual duty is to your- 
self, and you are not supposed to neglect this duty 
while being just to others. 

I think the examples in this section sufficiently 
illustrate this fact, and no remarks can be made that 
will add a feather's weight to their demonstration of 
truth. 

10 



146 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 



Section XII. 

CLASSIFICATION OF GRADES AND CONDI- 
TIONS OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 

It must be observed by the reader of these pages 
that there is a dissimilarity of grades and conditions 
in spirit-life. All true spiritualistic teachings repre- 
sent this truth; but I do not know of any spiritual- 
istic teachings that have given a clear or full classi- 
fication of these grades, or even mentioned all of 
them. 

These pages have already shown many phases of 
spirit-life, and it would be well to know of these 
stages and conditions as classes or grades. These I 
give only as they have been demonstrated to me. 

In " The Laws of Being," Part First, Re-incar- 
nation is treated of, and the conditions leading and 
appertaining thereto. To this work the reader is 
referred for more extended information on that 
subject. 

Souls who become re-incarnated are of a class that 
cannot advance — cannot progress in spirit-spheres ; 
to whom the externalities of the material are indis- 
pensable for further development either mentally 
or physically. Of this class are the mentally de- 
formed — of whom I have given examples in the 
book above referred to. To this class also belong 
those taken from earth without mental develop- 



GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 147 

ment, — such as infants and children, and those on 
the animal plane in the lower races. These several 
grades of conditions do not long sustain themselves, 
but find an inert weakness within, from a want of 
adaptability and capacity suited to the spirit-state ; 
and further development can only be acquired 
through a more extended life on earth. In the 
interim, these souls must be in some condition. 
When this class of souls are in spirit, they live and 
act as on the earth-plane, and such will be their con- 
dition for a longer or shorter time. They may com- 
municate with those of earth, be seen, &c, as they 
are in close rapport to earthly states. However, 
they do not progress to any appreciable spiritual 
light. After a time they lose in strength, weaken, 
and feel as any one would out of his element. They 
seek rest, pass through a state of weakness analogous 
to death, and find repose in torpid sleep,*perhaps from 
one hundred to two thousand years. These are rest- 
ing-souls of the first class, and have no influence on 
earth or in spirit, more than anything in torpor can 
have. 

There is another class of resting-souls, as has been 
seen by the examples in these pages. These are not 
deficient, nor are they malignant, but they are un- 
happy and discontented, and will remain so while 
conditions are oppressive. These prefer rest while 
such conditions continue : it may be longer or shorter. 
Very many spirits of good intelligence belong to this 
class. In fact, most souls on entering spirit-life 
require some season of rest, and maj r not take up 
an activity for some years after passing there. I 



148 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

found this quite common with those in ignorance of 
the true spirit-state, — church-befogged minds, for 
instance. Hence, there are several grades of this 
second class of resting-spirits. 

After these, are the benighted, dark spirits. These 
are totally blind and deaf to all conditions beyond 
those they were in on earth. They can only imbibe 
by sensation and by groping near those of earth. I 
do not know what influence or effect these may ex- 
ercise upon those on earth. I have given an example 
in the preceding pages that conveys a good idea of 
this class of souls. 

The next class are the erratics. These are the 
most noticeable and active, and have the most to do 
in physical manifestations. They include all degrees 
of mentality, from the most accomplished scholar to 
the poorest. 

They are so classed because they show a want of 
fixedness or steadiness. They are not disenthralled 
from earthly conditions ; they have not entered into 
the fullness of the spirit-state. 

It must be understood by most minds that the hu- 
man family have been educated in some groove or 
line of ideas in regard to the hereafter, and when they 
enter the spirit-world it is found totally at variance 
with all their preconceived ideas. To the Material- 
ist, Infidel, and Christian, this change is bewildering. 
Though they may have been highly educated on 
earth, the unexpected difference is so great that they 
do not immediately harmonize with its conditions. 
Further, if a person is not, within himself, of a 
spiritually fine nature, or character, he will not take 



GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 149 

in the spiritual state immediately, but remain — in 
legal parlance — in statu quo. Such are in the closest 
rapport with earthly conditions and mediums. If 
they are inclined to dishonesty and untruthfulness, 
those traits will be manifested. I have given an 
example of this in the scholarly, scientific person 
who could make and maintain falsehoods to gratify 
his personal spleen. I have had numerous proofs of 
the same in others. 

At the same time, many of this class are power- 
ful magnetizers ; in fact, it only requires positive 
will-power to psychologize some mediums, and all 
the rhapsody conceivable may be conveyed through 
that individual. This appears in disquisitions on 
philosophy, in essays and lectures, in revelations of 
the supernal life. It is most abundant, and some- 
times quite dense, aud any amount of sciolism is 
given through these channels. Examples are shown 
in the pages on psychology. One of these erratics 
may affiliate with a mind in sympathy with his ideas, 
and extended disquisitions on superior things may be 
spoken or written that have no reality outside of their 
own rambling minds. Just on the same principle 
Dickens completed from spirit-life, through another 
mind, his "Edwin Drood," a fictitious romance. In 
the same way may be transmitted posthumous works, 
such as " Beyond the Veil," by P. B. Randolph, 
the whole of which is probably fiction, or an er- 
ratic state of mental wandering peculiar to his con- 
dition. 

Very many of the visions are induced in this way : 



150 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

It is psychologic ; and you may get to any extent 
such views as related in " Ghost Land," " Views 
of our Heavenly Home," and other works I do not 
recall, that run in the same groove of imaginative 
ideas. It may be thought the writer is exaggerating 
on this form of influences and their operations. Not 
so. I have had an unusual experience with this class 
of spirits, and know their capabilities, and hesitate 
not to affirm what I state, as absolute facts. It has 
not been from any influence on my organism, but 
from knowledge demonstrated to me in spirit-groups, 
circles, and assemblies, where such spirits have been 
present. 

This sciolism and haziness, and these transcen- 
dental communications of supposed supernal things, 
are not to be thought to appear in the messages from 
those who speak to their surviving friends through 
some good medium. Such may convey information 
relating to their mutual interests, without deviating 
from facts known to them, and have no interest to 
convey aught else. It is the more intelligent that 
will enter extendedly into the first form of communi- 
cating through some other mind, and yet be very far 
from clearly comprehending the subject on which 
they speak. 

To this class — the erratics — may be assigned the 
insane, those who are temporarily demented, and the 
delirious. It may appear novel to hear that this state 
of mentality exists in spirit-life, yet it is true. Nei- 
ther does it belong exclusively to those who have 
been so afflicted on earth. Spirits become delirious 



GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 151 

after death; and this is no uncommon occurrence 
when they first begin to realize the changed condi- 
tion. More especially is this so if some external 
state weighs on their minds, or some reflex action 
reaches them. I have given some examples of this 
in other passages. I do not, however, assert this 
from information I have obtained of strangers, but 
from what I have known of my nearest and dearest 
friends, — those whom I stood by in sickness and 
death ; those whose mentality remained sound until 
their senses were extinguished ; those who recog- 
nized and bade me good-by with the full conscious- 
ness they were going. When reviving from a state 
of rest, they were wandering and irrational for weeks 
and months ; but this passed away, and they came 
out bright and clear. 

I know some who had no mental derangement on 
earth, who became wildly demented in spirit, and 
raved just as any maniac would on a subject that 
troubled them. 

When these facts are realized to be a condition of 
spirit, what a light must be thrown on the diagnosis 
of these mental affections on earth. 

None of these states are permanent ; they all pass 
away, and the spirit progresses out of them sooner 
or later. Hence, they may be said to be conditions 
of earth-life, and not properly those of superior 
spheres. 

The next class is composed of the normals, — those 
who have progressed beyond these conditions, and 
are more equipoised ; to whom the spirit-state has 



152 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

become the normal condition. These may not all be 
remarkably gifted with knowledge of superior things, 
or power of spirit-force, but they are at home, and 
enter more and more into the knowledge and power 
of spirit. This class takes in all degrees of advance- 
ment and progress. A classification of these grades, 
perhaps, would not be accurate, as they are only de- 
grees of advancement, and the spirits demonstrate 
them best by the manner in which they manifest. 
How far they can be classed in the beyond, I have 
no means of knowing. The reader must judge of 
that by these pages, and all others as well. I am 
writing of facts within my own knowledge. I am a 
denizen of earth, and not familiar, as yet, with an- 
gelic, celestial realms. Neither have I penetrated 
the realms of elementaries, to know anything relat- 
ing thereto. 

I have endeavored to show what a diversity of 
conditions the spirit- world is formed of; that its in- 
habitants are not saints nor angels ; neither are they 
devils, given over to work ruin to mankind. They 
will not abide near or with those of earth who do 
not attract them ; but those of earth make the con- 
ditions they come through or like to abide in. 

There is not a soul that will find it can attribute 
its transgressions or predilections to the presence 
or temptations of another. Hence, all the elabo- 
rate teachings, stating that spirits influence those 
of earth in wrong-doing, is a libel on them, and de- 
grading to the individuality and independence of 
the human family. 



GRADES OF SOULS IN SPIRIT SPHERES. 153 

The condition of those in advanced and distant 
spheres is not of vital import to us, for the reason 
that the sphere of earth is the most important to 
those who are upon it. How the present affects the 
future, is what we most desire to know, that we 
may be guided aright. A knowledge of what there 
may be in the remote ages, or far-distant spheres, 
will not benefit mankind one straw here, nor aid 
them to advance in the next stage of action. 



154 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 



Section XIII. 



FACTS VERSUS THEORY, AND THE TRUE 
ETHICS FOR GUIDANCE. 

If there is any one thing more than another that 
has afflicted the human family, it has been theory, — 
the speculation on cause and effect, — and this, under 
the name of theology, has been practiced since mind 
has had expression or could form conclusions. 

Some active brain will construct a theory. If it 
is plausible to any extent, others will adopt and con- 
tinue to teach it, until, becoming general among 
classes, tribes, or people, it is widely diffused, and 
becomes a cardinal belief of a sect, and part of some 
religious creed, and is adopted, generation after gen- 
eration, as a theological tenet. All creeds have had 
this starting-point, the theory of some one mind, and 
have taken about the same course as here stated. 
That all forms of religious belief have been initiated 
in this way, is undeniable. The Christian theology 
is no exception, because when its creeds and faiths 
come to be known, they will be found to have no 
foundation in fact. Hence, it must be evident to 
what extent mankind may be misled by theory. 
Now that a new dispensation has come to earth, let 
the new Tree of Life be guarded from this blighting 
worm that lies concealed near its core. 

It is plainly evident, and cannot be concealed, 



FACTS VERSUS THEORY. 155 

that spiritualism is afflicted to some extent with this 
class of speculative minds, disguised by what is 
termed a superior state of inspirational afflatus. 
Some of these have weighty influence, because nat- 
urally gifted with intellectual ability. 

It has been intimated in these pages how these 
sciolisms of supernal things may be exercised by 
such talented minds. The rule of guidance should 
be : Take nothing on faith, accept nothing as reliable 
unless well substantiated. 

What does spiritualism owe to teachers merely? 
Nothing. Its many manifestations are facts, that 
give all that is of importance to know. It has been 
its phenomenal phases that have planted it over the 
whole earth, and carried truth to every man, without 
distinction of race or color. From the tin} T rap, step 
by step through every other phase, it has advanced 
to the full stature of its present growth ; yet no one 
has been able to arrest its development nor advance 
its progress. It has moved at the bidding of no indi- 
vidual, and all teaching has been made subordinate to 
its demonstrated phenomena. The spirit-world has 
substantially proved for itself the continued exist- 
ence of mind after the death of the earthly body, — 
as well as other facts, too well known to require men- 
tion ; and from the past it can be judged amply able 
to take care of itself in the future. 

Whatever deception tricky spirits may play, or 
dishonest mediums practice, is insignificant, and not 
a feather's weight against its genuine facts. Neither 
is this deception so detrimental as erroneous teach- 
ings or the promulgation of tenets at variance with 



^ 



156 THE LOGIC OF FACTS. 

facts. For, while dishonest practices have only a 
passing notice, and can be avoided when detected, 
erroneous doctrines are far more lasting, — quite as 
much so in spiritualism as in Christianity or any 
other religious faith. There are no ethics in modern 
spiritualism that surpass what has been given before. 
No other teaching can transcend the simple inspired 
statements, " Do unto others as you would have oth- 
ers do unto you ; " " For inasmuch as ye have done 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." None other can ever super- 
sede this Divine command, the ethics it implies, or 
the rule it gives with which to determine man's fu- 
ture. Hence, all the philosophical disquisitions on 
the ethics of spiritualism are of little importance ; 
they are but the effusions of active minds. 



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